Cutaneous intravascular lymphoma following extravascular lymphoma of the lung

Intravascular lymphoma (IL) is a rare aggressive disease characterized by exclusive or predominant accumulation of malignant lymphoid cells within the lumina of small arteries, veins and capillaries. We describe a 74-year-old woman with IL presenting in the skin as asymptomatic teleangiectatic plaques on the thighs. The cutaneous neoplasm developed 18 months after an extravascular large B cell lymphoma of the lung and heralded its relapse. No neurologic symptoms were present during the course of the fatal disease. Immunophenotypic and immunogenotypic studies confirmed a unique B cell subtype. This case of IL is unusual for the association with an extravascular B cell lymphoma suggesting a link between the two diseases.