Primary malignant non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the breast: a study of seven cases and literature review

Bourhafour Mouna,M’Rabti Hind,Errihani Hassan,Taleb Amina,El Harroudi Tijani,Boutayeb Saber

doi:10.1186/1477-7819-10-151

Bourhafour Mouna, M’Rabti Hind + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7819-10-151

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Abstract

IntroductionPrimary breast lymphoma is an uncommon disease with poor clinical outcome. Breast lymphomas present less than 0.5% of malignant breast neoplasms and 2.2% of extranodal lymphomas. This study investigated the clinicopathological features and optimal treatment of PBL.Case presentationsClinical records of seven Moroccan PBL patients, treated at the National Institute of Oncology, Rabat, Morocco, from 2002 to 2010, were reviewed. Six of the patients were women and one a man, with ages ranging from 32 to 76. Five patients had stage IE and two stage IIE. All of the patients were classified with DLBCL. Of seven patients, one received a mastectomy and three excision of the breast lesion. Axillary dissection was performed in three patients. Two patients received chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy, while four received chemotherapy alone. Complete remission (CR) following primary treatment for all patients with PBL except in two cases was obtained. In one patient, recurrence occurred.ConclusionsThere is no consensus on the question of how to best treat PBL: Mastectomy offers no benefit in the treatment of PBL. The combined therapy approach, with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is the most successful treatment. PBL is poorly represented in rituximab-containing trials in DLBCL patients; there is not much experience with this agent in breast DLBCL. Because of the high incidence of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in PBL patients, many authors strongly believe that patients with aggressive forms of PBL should receive CNS infiltration prophylaxis.

Highlights

Primary breast lymphoma is an uncommon disease with poor clinical outcome
There is no consensus on the question of how to best treat primary breast lymphoma” (PBL): Mastectomy offers no benefit in the treatment of PBL
PBL is poorly represented in rituximab-containing trials in Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients; there is not much experience with this agent in breast DLBCL

Summary

Introduction

Primary breast lymphoma is an uncommon disease with poor clinical outcome. Breast lymphomas present less than 0.5% of malignant breast neoplasms and 2.2% of extranodal lymphomas. Case presentations: Clinical records of seven Moroccan PBL patients, treated at the National Institute of Oncology, Rabat, Morocco, from 2002 to 2010, were reviewed. Primary malignant lymphoma of the breast (PLB) appears to be a rare disease, and few clinicopathological features of the disease have been discussed in prior studies. It accounts for 2.2% of extranodal lymphomas and constitutes 0.04% to 0.5% of malignant breast neoplasms [1]. We retrospectively studied seven cases of PLB of the breast seen in patients attending the National Institute of Oncology in Rabat, Morocco, between 2002 and 2010, in an attempt to determine the common clinical features, therapy and prognosis of primary breast lymphoma

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