An uncommon clinical presentation of primary pancreatic lymphoma: Bleeding. Case report and literature review.

Abstract

 

BACKGROUND: Primary pancreatic lymphoma (PPL) represents less than 0.5% of all pancreatic neoplasms. Clinical manifestations are non-specific and diagnosis is delayed in the majority of patients.

CASE REPORT: 85-year-old woman reporting accidental fall at home 20-days earlier, was admitted with diagnosed of acute abdomen from suspected two-stage rupture of the spleen. The patient complained of pain in the upper abdomen.

Blood-chemical tests did not show anemia and leukocytosis, but showed increased CA19.9, CA125, LDH and beta2microglobulin. Contrast-enhanced CT showed left pleural, perisplenic, perihepatic, and Douglas blood effusion, a neoformation of the body-tail of the pancreas with peri-pancreatic blood layer, splenomegaly due to the presence of a hypodense area as from intraparenchymal hematoma, with an apparently undamaged splenic capsule. The patient underwent emergency exploratory laparotomy, that revealed the presence of modest free serohematic effusion from oozing of the pancreatic neoformation. The local spread of the disease prevented any attempt at surgical resection. Bleeding was checked with the addition of topical hemostats (Tabotamp®) and biopsy sampling of the pancreatic mass was performed. A final histological diagnosis of large cell NHL of centro-follicular origin, double expressor for the CMYC and BCL2 protein, was achieved. The age of the patient, the poor general conditions, the associated pathologies, the locally advanced spread of the disease and the histological aggressiveness, were contraindications to chemo-radiotherapy treatments.

CONCLUSION: The initial misdiagnosis was due to the history of recent trauma, the uncommon clinical presentation, the underestimation of the serum increase in markers and the interpretation of the CT.