Extra-gastric MALT lymphoma: Analysis of 50 cases / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND: Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue(MALT) lymphoma has an indolent natural course. However, extra-gastric MALT lymphoma has been reported to have more frequent relapses and shorter time to progress than gastric MALT lymphoma. We performed this study to analyze clinical features of extra-gastric MALT lymphoma. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of the patients who were diagnosed as extra-gastric MALT lymphoma at the Samsung Medical Center from March 1995 to January 1999. The survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: During the study period, extra-gastric MALT lymphoma was diagnosed in 50 patients. The median age was 51(28-87)yaers. The male to female ratio was 22:28. Commonly involved sites were conjunctiva (25/50, 50%), lung (6/50, 12%) and intestine(6/50, 12%). Histopathologically, low to high grade ratio of extra-gastric MALT lymphoma was 47:3. Among 41 patients who were staged, 32 patients(78%) had stage I or II and 9 patients(22%)had stage IV. B symptoms were seen in only 3 patients. Bone marrow involvement was observed in 4 patients. The duration of median follow up was 22 months. The 1-year and 2-year survival rates were 95.1% and 91.4% retrospectively. CONCLUSION: Majoity of our cases with extra-gastric MALT lymphoma had low grade, early stage, good treatement reponse and good prognosis.

Two cases of small cell lung cancer with bony metastases diagnosed with FDG - PET despite a normal planar bone scan / 대한내과학회지

Bone scintigraphy is a very sensitive and cost-effective diagnostic method for detecting bony metastases of malignant neoplasm. However it has been reported that bone scan is less sensitive for early bony metastases, especially vertebral metastases. PET is a non-invasive clinical imaging methodology that can be used to assess such biochemical disturbance in tissue in vivo quantitatively with high resolution.We experienced two cases of small cell lung cancer with multiple bony metastases which were detected on PET imaging but not on planar bone scan. This case report suggests that FDG-PET will be a very effective diagnostic tool for bony metastases especially in clinically suspected case despite a normal planar bone scan.