RESUMEN
Composite lymphoma implies the presence of two or more morphological and immunophenotypical subtypes of lymphoma in a single tissue or organ. Composite lymphoma with concurrent mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and classical Hodgkin lymphoma is extremely rare. In this case report, we present the case of a 70-year-old male who was diagnosed with a composite of MCL and classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and achieved near-complete resolution with chemoimmunotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of this kind demonstrating the effectiveness of a combination chemoimmunotherapy regimen leading to complete remission in composite lymphoma involving MCL and cHL. We report the history, imaging findings, and pathology and illustrate the challenges in therapeutic decision-making in managing composite lymphoma patients involving MCL and cHL. We also review the literature on this rare entity and discuss its clinical implications.
RESUMEN
Fever of unknown origin in patients with common variable immune deficiency (CVID) can be caused by variety of infectious, autoimmune, or malignancy-related etiologies. We present a 52-year-old man with history of CVID, who presented with 3 weeks of persistent high-grade fevers. During admission, he developed severe pancytopenia with shock and multiorgan failure. An extensive workup was performed for typical and atypical infections, autoimmune pathologies, and malignancy. His peripheral blood smear showed marked anisocytosis and poikilocytosis with elevated atypical lymphocytes. Flow cytometry showed markedly elevated CD8 counts, with abnormal CD4/CD8 ratio. Monospot test was negative but real-time polymerase chain reaction showed high Epstein-Barr virus load. Initial clinical suspicion was high for bacterial infections including pneumonia and acute sinusitis complicated by bacteremia and sepsis. Hematologic malignancy was also high on the differentials because of presence of rapidly progressive pancytopenia. The final diagnosis in this case illustrates a rare but potentially fatal disease that can present in CVID patients with persistent fevers and pancytopenia and can be refractory to standard treatment regimen. Because allergy and immunology physicians commonly treat CVID patients, they should be aware of this disease condition including pathophysiology, clinical presentation, laboratory workup, and treatment options.
