title: Intravascular pulmonary lymphoma with good response to treatment. A case report.
abstract: Intravascular lymphoma is a very rare form of large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, characterised by the presence of lymphoma cells in the lumina of small vessels only, particularly in the capillaries. We report a 54 year-old female non-smoker, admitted to hospital for further examination of a four month long clinical condition involving high fever, night sweats, unqualified weight loss and progressive dyspnea. Patient's temperature was 38.5 degrees C, pulse 100/min and respiratory 22 cycles/min. Patient's haemoglobin was 9.4 g/dL, she had leukocytosis, elevated LDH and arterial blood gas analysis with moderate hypoxaemia (FiO2 1l/m: PaO2-63.6 mm Hg). Chest X-ray revealed diffuse interstitial changes. All the possible causes of unknown origin fever were excluded. Diagnosis was made through lung biopsy and treatment with combined chemotherapy and rituximab was prescribed leading to a 48 hours clinical remission. We present this case to show how difficult this diagnosis can be and how a good response to therapy is possible.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology, Lisbon University School of Medicine, Portugal. margaridafelizardo@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Felizardo
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Magalhães
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pignatelli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sotto-Mayor
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bugalho de Almeida
mesh_terms: D015510:Clinical Medicine