Coexistence of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Tuberculosis in the Same Axillary Lymph Nodes. |
Woo Ho Ban, Hyeon Hui Kang, Myong Ki Baeg, Jae Gyung Kim, Hyun Jin Kim, In Woon Baek, Eun Oh Kim, Sun Hye Ko, Sang Haak Lee, Hwa Sik Moon, Ki Ouk Min |
1Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. mdlee@catholic.ac.kr 2Department of Pathology, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. |
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Abstract |
Herein we report the case of a 71-year-old woman who complained of fatigue and enlarged right axillary lymph nodes for 18 months. At her first visit, her chest X-ray showed diffuse nodular opacities in both lung fields. Initial excisional biopsy of the axillary lymph nodes showed granulomatous lesions and acid fast bacilli were seen on Ziehl-Neelsen staining. However, even after 15 months of anti-tuberculosis (TB) medication, her right axillary lymph nodes were enlarged. We re-performed an excisional biopsy of the nodes, which showed Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). A retrograde review of the biopsy before anti-tuberculous medication, revealed HL coexisting with TB. HL and TB cause difficulties in differential diagnosis due to similarities in clinical course, imaging procedures and histopathological analysis of the involved tissue. Therefore, it is important to consider the possibility of concurrent HL and TB when patients who undergo treatment for TB or chemotherapy for lymphoma complain of persistent systemic symptoms or enlarged lymph nodes. |
Key Words:
Tuberculosis, Hodgkin Disease, Lymphadenitis |
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