A Case of Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma (MALToma) That Developed From Lungs and Stomach

Abstract

The case concerns a 52-year-old male who presented at our hospital because of abnormal chest X-ray findings following a group medical examination. On the computed tomography (CT) image, there was an infiltrative shadow with bronchiectasis manifest in the right lower lobe, a right pleural effusion (PE), densities on bronchovascular bundles elsewhere in the lungs and clear thickening of the gastric wall. In the PE, we detected cells reminiscent morphologically of malignant lymphoma and with a chromosomal abnormality, and a gene rearrangement of the B-cell. By trans-bronchial brushing, we detected cells that were similar to those in the PE in the right lower lobe, and the findings of transbronchial lung biopsies (TBLB) and gastric biopsies were both compatible with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (MALToma). Thus, we diagnosed this as a case of MALToma which developed from the lungs and the stomach, and suggest that MALToma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of lung disease.