Occurrence of Hodgkin's disease and cutaneous B-cell lymphoma in the same patient: a report of two cases.

The occurrence of Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the same patient is well known. The most frequent observation has been the development of large B cell lymphoma in patients affected with the nodular form of lymphocytic predominant HD. A less common situation is the development of NHL among patients successfully treated for HD. In such patients the second lymphoma has been thought to be related to the previous therapy or the immunodeficiency state that can accompany HD. Histologically, these NHL lymphomas often are intermediate to high grade and frequently extranodal. We report two patients successfully treated for HD who also developed NHL of the skin. Both patients presented with strikingly similar findings regarding to sex, age and subtype of HD. Clinical, histopathological and immunophenotypical findings were consistent with cutaneous low-grade B cell lymphoma of the marginal zone type. Both cases remain in complete remission of HD after standard therapy. In both patients the cutaneous lymphoma followed an indolent clinical course after a long follow-up period. This observation expands the spectrum of alterations possibly related to HD.