Primary effusion lymphoma with skin involvement
- 1Division of Dermatology, Tsuyama Central Hospital, Tsuyama, Japan
- 2Department of Medicine of Sensory and Motor Organs, Division of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan
- 3Department of Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University Okayama, Japan
- 4Department of Clinical Pathology, National Okayama Medical Center, Okayama, Japan
- Correspondence to:
S Inoue
Department of Medicine of Sensory and Motor Organs, Division of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, 36 Nishimachi, Yonago 683-8504, Japan;sadanori{at}grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
- Accepted 30 January 2006
Abstract
Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) was once defined as a body cavity-based lymphoma without identifiable contiguous tumour mass, but is now recognised as an independent clinicopathological entity. The case of a 67-year-old Japanese woman with PEL is reported, in which the clinical findings showed a pericardial effusion and multiple erythema on the hypogastrium and inguinal region. The histopathological findings showed a diffuse infiltration of large neoplastic B cells from the dermis to the subcutis. After the disappearance of pericardial effusion without any treatment, she received several rounds of chemotherapy to resolve the skin eruption, but she finally died from multiple organ failure. No tumour mass was observed during the course of her disease.
- EBV, Epstein–Barr virus
- HHV-8, human herpes virus 8
- IgH, immunoglobulin heavy chain
- PCR, polymerase chain reaction
- PEL, primary effusion lymphoma
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None declared.
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Written consent was obtained from this patient for publication of the images in print.
