Plasmablastic lymphoma of the maxillary sinus in an HIV-negative patient: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is a rare and aggressive variant of diffuse large B cell lymphoma. The prognosis of PBL patients is poor. The majority of patients succumb to a fulminant disease course with most dying in the first year after diagnosis. There is a sparsity of HIV-negative PBL cases reported in the literature to date that comprise a group of single case reports and small case series. Consequently the natural history of the disease in HIVnegative individuals and optimal treatment course is not well characterized. Intensive induction chemotherapy has been associated with marked improved overall survival. However the optimal regimen has not been defined. We describe the third case of PBL of the maxillary sinus in a 24-year old HIV-negative man and its clinicopathological features and report success using a hyper-CVAD regimen with 6 cycles and consolidation radiation therapy yielding a complete remission of four years. © 2013 Saraceni et al.