Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the Breast: Report of Five Cases and Review of the Literature

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) of the breast can be either primary or secondary. Both are rare diseases accounting less than 0.6% of all breast malignancies. In this study we report our experience with five cases of breast lymphoma, 3 of them being primary and 2 of them being secondary breast lymphoma, retrospectively. All patients were female with a median age of 47 years and presented with breast masses (3 in the right breast and 2 in the left). The histologic subtype showed broad spectrum, one patient had peripheral T-cell lymphoma and 4 patients had B-cell lymphomas; 2 were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, 1 was a diffuse small B-cell lymphoma, and the last patient was a marginal zone lymphoma. Partial mastectomy was performed in 2 patients to carry out diagnosis. Anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens were employed in 4 patients. Radiotherapy was added to other treatment modalities in 3 cases. At a median follow-up of 5 years, all patients were alive other than one who had been diagnosed with peripheral T-cell lymphoma just after pregnancy and showed resistance to the applied treatment. The treatment and the prognosis of breast lymphomas were not different from the currently indicated for nodal NHL with the same stage and histological subtype.