Complete Cure of Malignant Lymphoma of the Stomach with a Huge Adrenal Lesion Achieved by Preoperative Chemotherapy and Surgery: Report of a Case

We report herein the case of a 53-year-old woman with malignant lymphoma of the stomach who was successfully treated by preoperative chemotherapy and surgery. The patient consulted our hospital with the chief complaint of upper abdominal pain. Endoscopy demonstrated a protruding lesion at the antral posterior wall of the stomach, and a post-biopsy pathological diagnosis of diffuse large cell type B-cell lymphoma was established. Moreover, abdominal ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a tumor measuring approximately 10 cm in diameter in the left adrenal gland. A total of three courses of chemotherapy using the CHOP regimen were given preoperatively. The CHOP regimen consisted of 100 mg of prednisolone administered for 8 days together with 1.9 mg of vincristine, 1 000 mg of cyclophosphamide, and 60 mg of epirubicin administered intravenously on the first day. This resulted in tumor shrinkage, and a distal gastrectomy, lymph node dissection, and left adrenalectomy were subsequently performed. Since the pathological findings of the resected tissue specimen demonstrated complete elimination of the malignant lymphoma, this combination of procedures was defined as having resulted in a complete response. The postoperative course of this patient was uneventful. She is still alive without any sign of tumor recurrence 6 years after her operation, and is being followed up at the outpatient clinic. Received: September 27, 1999 / Accepted: September 26, 2000