A rare case of paediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Abstract

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare disease accounting for 10%–15% of all non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in children. It is distinguished from other lymphomas by their anaplastic cytology and constant membrane expression of the CD30 antigen. We report a 9-year-old boy presented with a left calf swelling. Biopsy from swelling revealed as small cell variant of anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive ALCL. Staging with positron emission tomography–computed tomography showed lymph nodal and multiple extra-nodal involvement. The extra-nodal sites were lung, pancreas, bone, sphenoid sinus and muscles. He was started on ALCL-99 protocol.

Keywords

• anaplastic large cell lymphoma
• anaplastic large cell lymphoma-99
• anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive
• extra-nodal
• small cell variant