High-grade malignant B-cell lymphoma of the retina in a patient with concomitant gastric MALT lymphoma.

PURPOSE: To report the unexpected finding of a primary retinal B-cell lymphoma in a patient with previous breast carcinoma and subsequent lymphoma of the stomach.

METHODS

Histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings in the enucleated eye are described in conjunction with clinical features and investigations.

RESULTS

An 80-year-old woman with previous breast cancer presented with moderate loss of vision associated with vitreous opacities, circumpapillary retinal haemorrhages, and attenuated retinal vessels in her left eye. Treatment with systemic steroids and oral immunosuppressive drugs was initiated on suspicion of carcinoma-associated retinopathy. Two years later, the patient was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma of the stomach. Unfortunately, the ocular symptoms did not improve, and the patient developed neovascular glaucoma, for which the eye was eventually enucleated. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry as well as a molecular analysis revealed a primary B-cell lymphoma of the retina.

CONCLUSION

Non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma of the retina should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of non-specific retinopathies even in the presence of other primary neoplastic co-morbidities.