OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathologic features and differential diagnosis of lymphoma-like lesions and lymphoma of uterine cervix.

METHODSClinical data and hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of 10 cases of lymphoma-like lesion and 16 cases of lymphoma of uterine cervix were reviewed. Immunohistochemical study for B- and T-cell markers and light chains (kappa, lambda) were performed on paraffin sections. The rearrangement status of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene was analyzed with semi-nested polymerase chain reaction in 4 cases lymphoma-like lesion and 4 cases of lymphoma of uterine cervix.

RESULTSThe age of patients with lymphoma-like lesion ranged from 24 to 54 years (medium = 43 years). The lesion generally presented with cervical erosion or polyp. Microscopically, it is characterized by focal or diffuse superficial infiltration of immunoblast-like large B cells intermingled with a polymorphic population of inflammatory cells, including plasma cells, eosinophils and neutrophils. Maturation of the transformed large B cells was also noticed. On the other hand, the age of the patients with lymphoma of uterine cervix varied from 28 to 78 years (medium = 58 years). Cervical mass or diffuse enlargement of cervix were the commonest clinical findings. The cases included 12 examples of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and 4 examples of follicular lymphoma. The former was characterized by a diffuse monomorphic population of large atypical lymphoid cells, while neoplastic follicles were identified in the latter. Neither polymorphic inflammatory infiltrates nor maturation phenomenon was found. The immunostaining for kappa and lambda light chains was inconclusive. Molecular study showed clonal rearrangement of IgH gene in all cases of cervical lymphoma, as well as 2 cases of lymphoma-like lesion.

CONCLUSIONSThe distinction between lymphoma-like lesion and lymphoma of uterine cervix depends primarily on the clinical and histopathologic features. Assay for rearrangement of IgH gene may be helpful in differential diagnosis, though monoclonality can be detected in some benign lesions as well.