Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma. Unusual features of two patients from a low-incidence area.

The occurrence of adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma in two New Orleans patients, one native-born, the other originally from Honduras, is reported. Both exhibited an unusual feature. One patient was diagnosed following an atypical episode of sinusitis and demonstrated lymphomatous infiltration of the nasopharynx. A second patient had a fulminant course complicated by severe diarrhea and was found to have both tumor involvement and cytomegalovirus inclusions in the colon. Both had high titers of antibodies to HTLV-I. A cell line with T-lymphocyte characteristics was established from the peripheral blood of the first patient. Such studies may help better establish the clinical course, detection, and epidemiologic features of this difficult disease.