Peripheral T-cell lymphoma presenting as an ischemic stroke in a 23-year-old woman: a case report and review of the literature

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the unspecified variant is a highly aggressive subtype of T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is the first reported case of this type of lymphoma presenting as an ischemic stroke in a woman. A previously healthy 23-year-old woman presented with fever and hemiplegia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical case reports 2009-10, Vol.3 (1), p.83-83, Article 83
Main Authors: Fragou, Mariantina, Karakitsos, Dimitrios, Kalogeromitros, Alexandros, Samonis, George, Karabinis, Andreas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cancer
Care and treatment
Case report
Case studies
Chemotherapy
Diagnosis
Health aspects
Magnetic resonance imaging
Risk factors
T cell lymphoma
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Summary:Peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the unspecified variant is a highly aggressive subtype of T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is the first reported case of this type of lymphoma presenting as an ischemic stroke in a woman. A previously healthy 23-year-old woman presented with fever and hemiplegia. She was subsequently intubated after scoring 7 out of 15 at the Glasgow Coma Scale. Brain computed tomography scans of the patient depicted a massive sylvian infarction while an abdominal computed tomography scan revealed multiple enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and a retroperitoneal mass adjacent to the left psoas muscle. A diagnostic work up for inherited thrombophilia yielded negative results. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures for infectious agents also gave negative results. A biopsy of the retroperitoneal mass guided by computed tomography was inconclusive. A biopsy of an enlarged inguinal lymph node of the patient, combined with an immunophenotypic analysis, revealed an unspecified variant of peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The patient underwent chemotherapy but developed multiple organ failure. She died 26 days after she was admitted to our intensive care unit. Peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the unspecified variant is a highly aggressive subtype of peripheral T-cell lymphomas. The latter exhibit no consistent immunophenotypic, genetic, or clinical features. Clinicians should be aware of atypical clinical presentations of the above lymphomas such as ischemic stroke.
ISSN:1752-1947
1752-1947
DOI:10.1186/1752-1947-3-83