Primary Breast Lymphoma: An immunomorphologic study of a rare entity

Volume : VII, Issue : X, October - 2018

Deepika V, Premalata C S, Suma M N

Introduction& Objective: Breast lymphomas can be either arising primarily from the east or as secondary involvement of the

east by primary nodal lymphomas. Primary east lymphomas are extremely rare and account for 0.04 to 0.5% of all the east

malignancies and 1 to 2% of the extra nodal lymphomas. We studied the clinicopathologic features and subtypes of this rare

disease at a regional cancer centre in South India.

Methods: All cases of primary east lymphomas diagnosed over a period of 11.5yrs, were included in the study. The

demographic, morphologic and immunophenotypic features were analysed.

Results: Thirteen cases of primary east lymphomas were diagnosed and all were females. The mean age at presentation was

42.5yrs, with an age range of 19 to 65yrs. All the patients presented with unilateral east lesion except one case with bilateral

involvement. All 13 cases were Non–Hodgkin lymphomas(NHL), of which eleven cases were B–cell type and two cases were T–cell

type (both anaplastic Large cell lymphomas– ALCL) and two cases were immunocompromised. The most common subtype of Bcell

lymphoma was Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL).

Discussion & Conclusion: DLBCL was the commonest primary east lymphoma, most of them of the non germinal

centre(NGCB) subtype. The two cases of ALCLs in our study were non– implant associated and Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase(ALK–

1) positive. There was one case of plasmablastic lymphoma in a HIV infected individual. High index of suspicion and

immunophenotyping play a vital role in the diagnosis of primary east lymphomas and helps to make appropriate treatment

decisions which in turn has prognostic implications.