Early radiological findings on CT in a patient with enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma.

1 of 2 DESCRIPTION A 74-year-old woman has visited to our hospital with general lassitude and appetite loss in October 2010. The patient had experienced abdominal pain for the past 2 months and had become aware of insidious weight loss of 5 kg in the last few months. The abdomen was fl at and soft, and bowel sounds were slightly hyperactive. There was no history of serious illnesses, operations or hospitalisations. Blood analyses showed a haemoglobin level of 9.2 g/dl, and biochemical analysis showed a serum lactate dehydrogenase level of 201 IU/l and an albumin level of 2.5 g/dl. CT revealed thickening of the wall in the small intestine without intestinal occlusion and lymphadenopathy of the mesenteric lymph nodes ( fi gure 1 ). The patient then underwent the lower double balloon enteroscopy, and revealed stenosis of the small intestine by using gastrografi n, though the lesion could not reached. The patient underwent partial resection of the small intestine and lymph node resection of the mesenteric lymph nodes. The pathological specimen showed diffuse mucosal infi ltration by slightly large neoplastic cells with round nuclei having a stippled chromatin pattern and villous atrophy around the anal side of the resected small intestine. The neoplastic cells expressed CD3, TIA-1 and granzyme B ( fi gure 2 ). These results suggested enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma. Findings of the mesenteric lymph nodes Images in...