Case report

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the infratemporal fossa: a rare case report

Jagdeep S Thakur¹ , Ravinder S Minhas¹ , Narinder K Mohindroo¹ , Dev R Sharma¹ , Shobha Mohindroo² and Anamika Thakur^3,4

¹  Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, I. G. Medical College, Shimla, HP, 171001, India

²  Department of Pathology, I. G. Medical College, Shimla, HP, 171001, India

³  Department of Anatomy, I. G. Medical College, Shimla, HP, 171001, India

⁴  Previous address: Dept of Pharmacology, I. G. Medical College, Shimla, HP, 171001, India

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Head & Neck Oncology 2009, 1:20doi:10.1186/1758-3284-1-20

Published:	21 June 2009

Abstract

Background

The head and neck are two of the most common sites of extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). However, primary tumors of the infratemporal fossa are infrequent, and NHL in this region is extremely rare.

Case presentation

We present a case of a 41-year-old female that presented with swelling in the right preauricular region that had persisted for the past two years. The patient was diagnosed as having a small lymphocytic NHL. She initially underwent chemo-radiation but reported relapse. The tumor was excised and again the patient underwent chemotherapy. The patient remained symptomatic and developed a second primary squamous cell carcinoma in the right retromolar trigone.

Discussion and conclusion

We discussed NHL with an emphasis on extranodal manifestations. Extranodal NHL that is limited to a single site can be managed by surgery and regular follow up. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the second case of primary NHL of the infratemporal fossa to be reported in the literature.