title: Primary lymphoma of the spleen. Report of a case with diagnosis by fine-needle guided biopsy.
abstract: Primary splenic lymphoma is a relatively infrequent disease; the diagnosis of this entity is currently made with splenectomy. In a 52-year-old female with left upper quadrant abdominal pain, ultrasound showed a normal-sized spleen with an internal hypoechoic focal lesion. Ultrasonically-guided fine-needle aspiration and tissue core biopsy of the splenic lesion showed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). At the time of presentation there was no evidence of involvement of lymph nodes, bone marrow or any other organ. A diagnosis of primary splenic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was made and the patient underwent laparotomy with splenectomy. Histologic examination of the spleen confirmed the diagnosis: low-grade NHL confined to the spleen. The patient is well and in complete remission seven months after diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to report a rare occurrence of primary splenic lymphoma and to demonstrate the possibility of making this diagnosis by percutaneous guided biopsy.
authors.affiliation: 1a Div. Medica, Ospedale di Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavanna
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Artioli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vallisa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Donato
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bertè
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carapezzi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Foroni
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Vecchio
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lo Monaco
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prati
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013160:Splenic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D014465:Ultrasonics