A Case of Primary Malignant Lymphoma of The Tongue

Abstract

We experienced a very rare case of primary malignant lymphoma of the tongue. The patient was an
83-year-old Japanese woman. Her chief complaint was swelling of the tongue for half a year. Fine needle
biopsy from her tongue mass was performed at a previous hospital and showed no malignant cells. This
hospital introduced her to our hospital for the purpose of scrutiny.At the first visit to our Department
of Otorhinolaryngology, the tongue surface showed no erosion or ulcer, but hard tumors were palpable
in the subepithelium of the central region of the tongue. Open biopsy of this tumor was performed and
was diagnosed as T-cell lymphoma. PET-CT revealed no metastasis findings and bone marrow biopsy
showed abnormal findings. This lymphoma was classified as Stage I (Ann Arbor classification). We
consulted the Department of Hematology and she received chemotherapy by hematologists. Two years
have passed since the start of chemotherapy. At present, this lymphoma shows no growth in the tongue
or whole body.