Magnetic resonance imaging with pathological correlation in a case of mantle cell lymphoma of the parotid gland: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is a subtype of B-cell lymphoma with frequent involvement of the bone marrow and the gastrointestinal tract. Isolated parotid gland involvement seldom occurs. Here we report an unusual case of isolated infiltration of the parotid gland by mantle cell lymphoma. The aim of our study is to correlate magnetic resonance imaging findings with the histological features of the disease. To the best of our knowledge, no similar radiological findings of mantle cell lymphoma have been published before.


METHODS
A 72-year-old Caucasian woman presented with a painful left parotid enlargement. She was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma involving the left submandibular gland seven years prior to presentation. Her whole body CT scan showed the absence of pathologically enlarged lymph nodes. However, a magnetic resonance imaging showed enlargement of her left parotid gland and an abnormal parenchyma with mixed-type solid and cystic lesions. A biopsy of her left parotid gland and subsequent histological examination confirmed a mantle cell lymphoma (common variant) relapse.


CONCLUSIONS
Although rare, the involvement of parotid gland with mantle cell lymphoma must be considered in the differential diagnosis of parotid tumors.
Pilavaki
Mayia
M
Department of Radiology, General Hospital G Papanikolaou, Thessaloniki, Greece. mayiapil@otenet.gr.
Athanasiadou
Anastasia
A
Iordanidis
Fotis
F
Karakozoglou
Thrasivulos
T
Palladas
Panagiotis
P