Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 6, 2020; 8(3): 638-644
Published online Feb 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i3.638
Sternal Hodgkin’s lymphoma: A case report and review of literature
Yi-Yu Yin, Nan Zhao, Bin Yang, Hua Xin
Yi-Yu Yin, Nan Zhao, Bin Yang, Hua Xin, Department of Thoracic Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Yin YY contributed to the conception of the study; Yin YY contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript preparation; Yin YY, Zhao N, Yang B, performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript; Xin H helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hua Xin, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Thoracic Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, 126 Xiantai Street, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China. yinjie17@mails.jlu.edu.cn
Received: October 28, 2019
Peer-review started: October 28, 2019
First decision: December 4, 2019
Revised: December 13, 2019
Accepted: December 22, 2019
Article in press: December 22, 2019
Published online: February 6, 2020
Processing time: 100 Days and 20.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Sternal tumors are difficult to diagnose, and usually need to be differentiated from other diseases such as tuberculosis, osteosarcoma, intrathoracic thyroid and thymoma. The sternum is a rare site of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is often misdiagnosed as tuberculosis on routine histopathology.

CASE SUMMARY

We reported a 47-year-old female patient with chest pain in the upper sternum for 1 mo. Chest computed tomography found a mass in the upper sternum. Pathology and immunohistochemistry of the biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of typical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (mixed cellularity subtype). Patient was diagnosed with primary sternal Hodgkin’s lymphoma and administered 6 cycles of adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine chemotherapy. Patient had no tumor recurrence and progression at a follow-up visit 2 years later.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the rarity of primary sternal Hodgkin’s lymphoma and the challenges of its diagnosis. A PubMed and Web of Science search revealed 10 reported cases of sternal involvement in Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Keywords: Sternum; Skeleton; Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; Chest pain; Case report

Core tip: Sternal tumors are difficult to diagnose, and usually need to be differentiated from other diseases. The sternum is a rare site of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is usually misdiagnosed as tuberculosis on routine histopathology. We here report a 47-year-old female patient with chest pain in the upper sternum for 1 mo. The patient was diagnosed with primary sternal Hodgkin’s lymphoma and administered 6 cycles of adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine chemotherapy. No tumor recurrence and progression at a follow-up visit 2 years later. This is a first case report about diagnosis at initial presentation with a primary lesion.