PRIMARY BILATERAL BREAST LYMPHOMA: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND REPORT OF FOUR CASES FROM A SINGLE CENTRE

Abstract

Primary breast lymphoma is a rare entity and carries poor prognosis, bilateral breast lymphoma is even rarer and carries worst prognosis. Bilateral breast lymphoma is a rare disease and lacks treatment. Out of the 2766 cases of non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma registered at our institute from 1994 to 2013, 31 cases of breast lymphoma were found, of which four cases had bilateral involvement. In this review, we describe clinical presentation, histopathological subtypes, treatment administered and outcome of those four cases retrospectively. All patients were female with a median age of 31 years (range 24–64 years). Three patients were diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma detected in one patient. Chemotherapy remained the main treatment modality and surgery (excision biopsy) was reserved for diagnostic purpose only, none of the patients received radiation therapy. Key words: Breast lymphoma, histopathological subtypes, palliation