Adult T cell leukemia presenting as multiple submucosal tumors of the intestine: detection of HTLV-I DNA by polymerase chain reaction.

We discuss a 45-year-old man who presented with ileus due to multiple submucosal tumors of the small and large intestines. Emergency operation was performed and histological examination of the tumors revealed pleomorphic cells with helper/inducer T-cell phenotype. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis using DNA extracted from the paraffin-embedded material showed that the intestinal, jejunal and femoral lymphoma samples contained human T-cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-I) DNA. Although no atypical lymphocytes were found in the peripheral blood, a diagnosis of adult T-cell leukemia was made. The PCR analysis of HTLV-I infection using paraffin-embedded materials seems to be useful when we encountered patients with T-cell lymphoma in the gastrointestinal tract.