Primary appendiceal Burkitt's lymphoma presenting as acute appendicitis: An extremely rare case report and review of the literatture

Abstract

Primary lymphomas of appendix are extremely rare tumors. The incidence is 0.015% out of all gastrointestinal lymphomas; furthermore, limited data is available in literature. The appendiceal neoplasms are most commonly presented as acute appendicitis followed intestinal obstruction, intussusception or perforation. We present a case of a 22 year-old male patient who presented with acute appenditis and underwent emergency laparotomy. On abdominal exploration, swollen and enlarged appendix measured 3cm was present for which appendectomy were performed. The histopathological examination of appendectomy specimen revealed a Burkitt's Lymphoma. The patient received R-COPADEM protocol of chemotherapy. Primary gastrointestinal lymphoma is a extremely rare neoplasm without guidelines for therapy.

Keywords: Acute appenditis; Burkitt's lymphoma; Chemotherapy; Surgery.

Fig. 1

A. CT scan of the abdomen (coronal plane) B. CT scan of abdomen (axial plane) reveal an enlarged appendix (encircled black circle and red circle) and fluid. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 2

CT scan of abdomen (axial plane) reveal mesenteric and para-aortic lymphadenopathy (three vertical arrows).

Fig. 3

Intra operative picture of appendiceal tumor measured (white star) 8cm*4cm and normal caecum (whita arrow).

Fig. 4

Numerous tingible body macrophages imparting the classic starry sky appearance were seen.