Diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the maxilla with support of polymerase chain reaction.

Primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of bone is an unusual extranodal presentation, and considerable difficulty exists in diagnosing some extranodal osseous lymphomas that develop in the head and neck region. Frequently, malignancies of the jawbones appear clinically as inflammatory diseases. Recognition of these cases usually occurs after the inflammatory-like symptoms have failed to respond to conventional therapy. This case report presents an extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the maxilla, which clinically imposed as odontogenic infection in a 45-year-old woman. The definite diagnosis was made by histologic means and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The latter is a molecular biologic method, which in unclear cases may be helpful in early differentiation of inflammatory from malignant processes.