Lung Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease with features of lymphomatoid granulomatosis in a lung transplant patient.

Kwon EJ, Katz KA, Draft KS, Seykora JT, Rook AH, Wasik MA, Junkins-Hopkins JM

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.

A 58-year-old lung transplant patient developed worsening shortness of breath and indurated erythematous plaques on the lower left leg. A skin biopsy specimen revealed a dense angiocentric and angioinvasive infiltrate in the mid to reticular dermis and panniculus containing large, atypical lymphocytes with convoluted nuclei and prominent nucleoli. Immunohistochemical stains showed that the atypical cells were of B-cell origin, and that Epstein-Barr virus was present. Molecular studies demonstrated B-cell clonality. The patient was successfully treated with rituximab. The clinical and pathologic features in this case represent posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease with features of lymphomatoid granulomatosis. The case also highlights the importance of clinical and pathologic examination of cutaneous lesions in the evaluation of lymphoproliferative disorders for patients undergoing transplantation.

Published 20 March 2006 in J Am Acad Dermatol, 54(4): 657-63.
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