title: Three Cases of Intravascular Large B-Cell Lymphoma Detected in a Biopsy of Skin Lesions.
abstract: Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVL) is a rare subtype of extranodal malignant lymphoma. The proliferation of neoplastic B cells within small blood vessels causes eruptions and other symptoms in a variety of organs. The random skin biopsy is useful for diagnosing this condition in its early stages. In order to assess the diagnostic utility of this method, we examined 3 cases with the aim of comparing the occurrence of tumor cells in lesional and healthy-looking skin by performing a random skin biopsy of 32 separate sites. Our findings from the total of 32 biopsy specimens collected from the 3 cases indicated that 16 of the 17 sites on the lesional skin and 1 of the 15 sites on the healthy-looking skin were positive for neoplastic cells. This finding suggested that IVL cells occurred more frequently in the lesional skin than in the healthy-looking skin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center and Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Funaki
authors.forename: Sanae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimamura
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yokogawa
authors.forename: Syoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugii
authors.forename: Ryoji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsuboi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D019043:Vascular Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*