Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of the breast: A case report

Abstract

          Primary breast lymphoma (PBL) is a rare tumor of the breast. Likewise, it is one of the rare manifestations of extranodal lymphoma. Herein we report a case of a 51-year-old Thai woman who presented with a palpable painless mass at the right breast for 10 years without constitutional symptoms, no fever, and no weight loss. Her mass was in ovoid shape, 4.3x5 cm. in size, movable, non-tender but firm consistency and she had no other nodes and no hepatosplenomegaly. The mass was totally excised and its pathological diagnosis was MALT lymphoma. The chest film and the ultrasonography of the whole abdomen were unremarkable, the serum LDH level was normal and the bone marrow was not involved by the lymphoma. The final clinical diagnosis was MALT lymphoma, stage IAE (breast). In general, the cell type of the primary breast lymphoma in almost all cases is DLBCL while the MALT lymphoma that is far more commonly found at the stomach and the salivary glands, has occasionally been mentioned in the breast. Because the MALT lymphoma usually runs rather indolent course and the definite guideline for the treatment of primary lymphoma of the breast has not been yet established, no specific therapy was offered to her. After the total excision of the breast mass, she can survive well without the recurrence at the old or new locations in two years while this paper is written.