ABSTRACT
Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (PCBCLs) are made up of a heterogenous group of B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases confined to the skin at the time of diagnosis with no evidence of extracutaneous involvement. With early diagnosis and adequate treatment, PCBCLs as a group has excellent prognosis, with about a 95% survival rate at five years. We report a case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in a 52-year-old woman presenting as a fungating skin ulcer mimicking advanced basal cell carcinoma. Review of available literature showed most studies of PCBCLs being done on Europeans with no universally acceptable system of classification. Clinical findings, diagnostic evaluations and treatment outcomes of PCBCLs are discussed with emphasis on comparison of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Neoplasms of the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissue classification systems.
Subject(s)
Lymphoma, B-Cell/diagnosis , Skin Neoplasms/diagnosis , Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use , Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use , Carcinoma, Basal Cell , Combined Modality Therapy , Cyclophosphamide , Doxorubicin , Female , Humans , Lymphoma, B-Cell/drug therapy , Lymphoma, B-Cell/pathology , Lymphoma, B-Cell/radiotherapy , Middle Aged , Prednisolone , Rituximab , Skin Neoplasms/drug therapy , Skin Neoplasms/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Treatment Outcome , VincristineABSTRACT
Astrocytomas are central nervous system neoplasms, which are derived predominately from astrocytes. On the basis of the histopathologic characteristics astrocytomas are graded from I to IV. The cells that demonstrate the greatest degree of anaplasia are used to determine the histologic grade of the tumor. The mean age of survival are approximately 10 years from the time of diagnosis for pilocystic astrocytomas (World Health Organization grade I), more than 5 years for patients with low-grade diffuse astrocytomas (WHO grade II), 2 to 5 years for those with anaplastic astrocytomas (WHO grade III), and less than 1 year for patients with glioblastoma (WHO grade IV). The treatment is a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy depending of the grade of astrocytoma. We present a case of 31-year-old man with grade III astrocytoma with subsequent chronic myelogenous leukemia treated with imatinib mesylate as part of his chronic myelogenous leukemia treatment failing to show recurrence of the astrocytoma 10 years after standard treatment for astrocytoma.
