Splenic marginal zone
lymphoma (SMZL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We
report here on a
patient who displayed the synchronous occurrence of SMZL and early
gastric cancer (EGC). The
patient was a 74 year-old
male with
liver cirrhosis. An EGC in the
gastric antrum was diagnosed and the preoperative
abdomen computed
tomography scan revealed
splenomegaly and intra-abdominal
lymphadenopathy. We performed subtotal
gastrectomy and the postoperative pathologic examination revealed
adenocarcinoma limited to the
gastric mucosa and SMZL in the
lymph nodes. The
patient recovered from the
surgery without
complications and is now awaiting
chemotherapy. SMZL has an indolent
clinical course with good long-term
survival and so there is the possibility of the occurrence of a second primary
malignancy. Rare cases of a second primary
malignancy being diagnosed along with SMZL have been described in the
literature.
Patients with SMZL should be carefully followed
after treatment to detect the possible occurance of a second primary
malignancy.