Malignant Lymphoma of the Small Bowel Associated with Diffuse Nodular Lymphoid Hyperplasia

Abstract

BENIGN intestinal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia (NLH) is a well-known entity, involving the entire small bowel or the colon (or both) of patients with primary immunodeficiency syndromes^{1 2 3} or the terminal ileum or colon (or both) of children without immunodeficiency.⁴ In immunodeficient subjects, the association of NLH with non-Hodgkin's intestinal lymphoma seems extremely rare^{5 6 7} and was suggested to be fortuitous,⁵ even though malignant conditions (e.g., gastric and colonic adenocarcinoma and extra-digestive lymphoid neoplasms) are frequent in this patient population.¹ More recently, in developed Western countries, symptomatic diffuse NLH of the small bowel has been reported in a few adults without detectable immunodeficiency. . . .