An uncommon presentation of primary gastro-intestinal non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma (PGINHL) with multiple jejunal strictures in a young patient

Abstract

Introduction:Primary gasrointesinal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (PGINHL) is a heterogeneous complex disease (1).Variations in patients’ characterisics, clinical sages, hisologic sub-types, and treatment options dependlargely on the site of origin (1, 2). In fact, gasrointesinal tract is the mos commonly involved site forprimary NHL occurrence, accounting for nearly 20–40% of all extra-nodal disease (2). It arises from thelymphoid tissues within the wall of small intesine which are more abundant in the ileum (3), being eitherlocalized to a single segment of the small intesine, or multi-centric in 15–20% (3). Clinical presentation isextremely variable with a wide range of presenting symptoms like: non-specifc abdominal pain; anorexiaand weight loss; diarrhea; subacute obsruction; and a palpable abdominal mass (2, 4-6), with an emergencysurgical treatment being required in 11–64 % of cases (4). Herein, authors describe an unusual presentationof a PGI NHL in a young Sudanese patient who suffered from recurrent episodes of subacute small bowelobsruction due to multiple jejunal srictures (simulating Crohn’s disease clinically and radiologically) andfound to have a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma on hisopathological examination of the surgical specimen.