An unusual variant of composite lymphoma: a short case report and review of the literature

Abstract

We recently encountered an unusual case of composite lymphoma arising in a 73-year-old man with a history of follicular small cleaved cell lymphoma. The neoplasm was composed of follicular small cleaved cell lymphoma and nodular sclerosing Hodgkin disease within a single groin lymph node. In addition to morphologic evidence, the immunologic studies performed in this case demonstrated the simultaneous occurrence of 2 separate lymphocytic proliferations. To the best of our knowledge, only one such histologic type has been reported in the literature.1 Hodgkin lymphoma can develop in patients with non-Hodgkin disease and vice versa, especially after treatment. The simultaneous occurrence of Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a single lymph node is extremely rare. In this article, the relationship between Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma is explored, possible explanations for the occurrence of composite lymphoma are discussed, and the literature is reviewed.