primary pancreatic lymphoma: a case report and literature review

primary pancreatic lymphoma is a rare extranodal manifestation of any histopathologic subtype of b cell non-hodgkin's lymphoma that predominantly involves the pancreas. it comprises less than 0.2% of pancreatic malignancies and less than 0.7% of non-hodgkin's lymphomas. this lymphoma is almost never suspected clinically. it is usually diagnosed by surgical exploration for suspected adenocarcinoma because this kind of lymphoma resembles pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a much more common disease, in clinical presentation and radiologic appearance. differentiation is, however, essential because of different clinical management and outcome. this report describes an interesting case of primary pancreatic lymphoma and review of the literature to elucidate features that suggest this entity.