Abstract
Background. Primary malignant lymphoma arising from the trachea or bronchus is rare. We report a case of primary tracheal malignant lymphoma, whose positive results of ^<18>F-fluorodeoxy glucose-positron emission tomography (^<18>FDG-PET) allowed detection of this disease. Case. A 65-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with productive cough. The chest X-ray showed no abnormalities, but the chest CT showed anterior tracheal wall thickening. A second CT scan 1 month later showed the increase of wall thickening. ^<18>FDG-PET showed abnormal uptake in the same lesion. Bronchoscopy showed a glossy polypoid mass with a smooth surface resembling a bunch of grapes two tracheal cartilage below the glottis on both sides of the trachea. Pathological findings showed diffuse invasion of small lymphocyte in the submucosal lays. These cells infiltrated the epithelium and formed lymphoepithelial lesions. B-cell origin was demonstrated immunohistochemically by positive CD20 stain. Flowcytometry showed the monoclonality of the tumor cells. We diagnosed mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. After chemotherapy with rituximab, the tumors disappeared. Conclusion. We reported a rare case of tracheal MALT lymphoma detected by chest CT and ^<18>FDG-PET.
