The gut-associated lymphoid tissue and its tumours

Lymphomatous polyposis. A neoplasm of either follicular mantle or germinal center cell origin

Lymphomatous polyposis (LP) is generally thought to be an expression of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of follicular mantle cell (MC) origin. We report nine patients with LP from more than 3,500 cases of NHL studied by the Nebraska Lymphoma Study Group. Our patients differed from those reported previously in that LP represented a follicular center cell (FCC) NHL in two of the nine cases, with the remainder consisting of MC NHL. Three patients developed LP during a relapse of previously diagnosed and treated extraintestinal MC NHL (parotid gland, tonsil, and inguinal lymph node, respectively), whereas the other six patients presented with primary LP. In seven of the nine LP cases, a large mass predominated among a myriad of small polyps. The FCC cases were confined to the small intestine, whereas the MC cases were either pan-intestinal or colonic on their localization. Two MC cases studied by Southern blotting exhibited rearrangement of the bcl-1 locus. Bcl-2 rearrangement was not detected in any of the nine cases when studied by either a polymerase chain reaction-based assay (seven cases) or by Southern blotting (two cases). To date, four patients (three MC, one FCC) have experienced recurrent NHL in gastrointestinal sites. With follow-up ranging from 13 to 147 months, the entire group had a median survival of 41 months (primary MC LP:13, 13, 41, and 77 months; primary FCC LP:45 and 147 months; secondary MC LP:17, 41 and 76 months), and only one patient has died. We conclude that LP is a rare manifestation of NHL of either follicular MC or germinal center cell origin.

Mantle zone lymphoma in a gastric glomus tumor

A 61-year-old man had an ileocolectomy for resection of an obstructing lesion of the terminal ileum, which proved to be a mantle zone variant of intermediate lymphocytic lymphoma. At laparotomy, an intramural nodule in the gastric antrum was observed; on resection, this was found to be a typical gastric glomus tumor, focally infiltrated by lymphoma. This combined tumor has not been described previously, to the knowledge of the authors, and could be misdiagnosed easily, although both components should be considered in the differential diagnosis of small cell gastric neoplasms and can be identified readily by immunohistochemical studies.