A Case of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma in the Ascending Colon Treated by Laparoscopy-assisted Right Colectomy

Abstract

A submucosal tumor of the ascending colon, approximately 4.0-cm in size, was discovered on colonoscopy of a 77-year-old woman. Histological examination of a biopsy specimen showed suspected mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. Since there was no evidence of distant metastases on PET-CT, laparoscopy-assisted right colectomy was performed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The histopathological findings of the removed tumor showed small and medium atypical lymphocytes with plasma cell differentiation and nuclear inclusions.

Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for CD79a, but negative for CD3, CD5, CD10, and cyclinD1. The tumor was diagnosed as a limited-stage MALT lymphoma of the ascending colon.

Since tumor metastasis was found in one of the near lymph nodes, Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy was performed in addition to the surgery. There was no sign of recurrence over 40 months of observation. Therefore, we consider that laparoscopy-assisted colectomy is both a radical and minimally invasive surgical method of treatment for colonic MALT lymphoma.