Early stage primary pulmonary lymphoma.

Because of the rarity of its occurrence, there is no established treatment for early stage primary pulmonary lymphoma. We retrospectively examined five patients with early stage primary pulmonary lymphoma to elucidate the optimal treatment for this unusual disease. All patients underwent complete resection with regional lymph node dissection. Lymphatic and blood vessel invasion were pathologically detected in all cases. All four patients with postoperative chemotherapy are alive without recurrence. One patient who did not undergo chemotherapy had an extrapulmonary recurrence 21 months after operation. The combined therapy of complete resection and postoperative chemotherapy may be the treatment of choice for this unusual disease.