Search

Lymphedema (LE) is a chronic medical condition characterized by lymphatic fluid retention, resulting in tissue swelling. Cancer treatments involving lymph nodes can damage lymph drainage routes, causing accumulation of lymph fluid in the interstitial tissue of related limbs and body areas and secondary LE. Basically, the LE has a negative impact on physical and mental quality of life. Moreover, 0.07-0.04% of long term survivors (most patients undergone mastectomy) can develop the Stewart-Treves syndrome, a rare and aggressive multifocal lymphangiosarcoma arising within the LE region. Here we describe a 45-year-old woman with a massive LE of the left arm, as a consequence of previous breast cancer, who was diagnosed after 4 years of stage IV mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) . The patient after obtaining complete remission with chemotherapy and ABMT relapsed of MCL in lymphedema site.

Chemotherapy including high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), with or without radiotherapy, is standard treatment for primary cerebral nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). It remains controversial whether addition of other drugs will add to therapeutic efficacy. We report here on 41 patients with PCNSL treated using a combined treatment modality, including HD-MTX (3.5 g/m2 for 2 cycles) prior to whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). In 22 patients, the chemotherapy was intensified by adding high-dose cytosine arabinoside (HD-AraC) (2g/m2 for 4 doses for 2 cycles). Complete remission was obtained in 23 of 34 assessable patients (67%), and overall and disease-free survival rates were 24% and 46%, respectively, without differences between treatment groups. The addition of HD-AraC was complicated by severe infections in 17/22 (77%) patients, resulting in 3 toxic deaths. Our study indicates that addition of HD-AraC may not improve clinical outcome in PCNSL, while it increases toxicity. More targeted and less toxic therapies are warranted.