Intestinal lymphoma presenting as intermittent bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain

Abstract

Primary lymphoma of the colon is a rare tumor of the GI tract that comprises only 0.2-1.2% of all colonic malignancies and most commonly involve the cecum followed by the right colon and sigmoid. They can mimic features of ulcerative colitis and in this article we reporting a colonic lymphoma, which misdiagnosed as a refractory IBD. This is a middle- aged man presenting with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea, which is diagnosed as ulcerative colitis, but due to the refractory symptoms and non-responsiveness, he has undergone further evaluation, which revealed the primary diffuse large B -cell lymphoma of the colon as the main culprit of patients’ symptoms and referred for systemic chemotherapy. Colonic lymphomas can be presented as a mucosal type and characterized by small superficial erosive and hyperemic changes within a mucosal layer that can mimic the features of ulcerative colitis, so in any refractory IBD, their possibility should keep in mind.