A Case of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma with Tumor Formation in the Bronchial Lumen

Abstract

A 70-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital in October 1987 because of productive cough and pulmonary masses on chest X-P. Four years previously, she had an orbital tumor and the histopathological findings of the resected tumor were compatible with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. On the present admission, bronchoscopic findings showed a friable tumor with an irregular surface and capillary dilatation, which obstructed the truncus intermedius. Microscopic findings of transbronchoscopic biopsy specimen revealed small lymphocytic lymphoma with the same histological findings as those of the formerly resected orbital tumor. COPP therapy and ^<60>Co radiation resulted in complete regression and she was discharged in January 1988. Endobronchial involvement of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a rare phenomenon, although other intrathoracic structures are frequently involved. A favorable result of the therapy for the present case seemed worth reporting, for hitherto reported cases have mostly ended fatally due to widely disseminated disease.