Primary malignant lymphoma of the cervix - A case report

BACKGROUND: Primary malignant lymphoma of the female genital tract is rare. A review of the literature suggests that 1 in 175 extranodal lymphomas in women is likely to originate in the vagina, uterus or cervix. Often the diagnosis of primary lymphoma is not established until after an operation has been performed. Postsurgical treatment is usually chemotherapy alone or followed by radiotherapy. CASE: A 40-year-old woman presented in January 2001 with uterine bleeding. After the patient underwent total abdominal hysterectomy, primary cervical malignant lymphoma was diagnosed. Six courses of chemotherapy were administered in an adjuvant setting. Twenty-seven months (April 2003) after the diagnosis the patient was alive and without signs of recurrent disease. CONCLUSION: Awareness of this rare clinical entity is important because these tumors can present at any age and may mimic squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix clinically and histologically. Abnormal uterine bleeding is the most common presenting symptom of primary malignant lymphoma of the cervix. Extent of disease, size of primary lesion and type of lymphoma are significant prognostic features. Radical surgery is unnecessary. Standard postsurgical treatment has not yet been established.