Colonoscopic manifestations of primary colorectal lymphoma.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS

Little is known about the colonoscopic manifestation of colorectal lymphoma. This article describes the use of colonoscopy for diagnosis of primary colorectal lymphoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We analyzed colonoscopic findings in 13 retrospectively collected cases of primary colorectal lymphoma diagnosed between 1990 and 1999 at our hospital.

RESULTS

The primary colorectal tymphomas were distinguished into three colonoscopic types: a) the mucosal type, which included six lymphomas (46%), which were classified into two subtypes, erosive (two lymphomas) and ulcerative (four tymphomas); b) the polypoid type, which included three tymphomas (23%); and c) the massive type, which included four (31%). The proportion of patients with T-cell lineage lymphoma (5 of 12, 42%) was higher than in previous studies. Three cases were diagnosed as enteropathy-associated T-cell (EAT)-like lymphoma: one presenting with multicentric ulcerations, one as a massive type and another as a polypoid type. Of those with B-cell lineage lymphoma (7 of 12, 58%), three presented as massive type, two as polypoid type and two as erosive subtype.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the analysis of colonoscopic records, we have proposed three main types of primary colorectal lymphoma. An unusually high proportion of T-cell lineage lymphomas was noted, but as the number of cases was low, further study is still needed for confirmation.