Composite nodular lymphocyte-predominance Hodgkin disease and gamma-heavy-chain disease: a case report and review of the literature.

Abstract

The association of Hodgkin disease with monoclonal gammopathy has rarely been reported. We present a case of a 48-year-old woman with a history of autoimmune hemolytic anemia and Graves disease who presented with hepatosplenomegaly and a gamma-heavy-chain paraprotein. Histopathology of lymph node and bone marrow revealed nodular lymphocyte-predominance Hodgkin disease, while examination of the spleen revealed plasmacytosis consistent with gamma-heavy-chain disease. Following splenectomy, the patient has remained in complete remission for both conditions with no further treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with both gamma-heavy-chain disease and nodular lymphocyte-predominance Hodgkin disease. Given recent data indicating the B-cell nature of this form of Hodgkin disease, the authors propose that in this unique case there may be a clonal relationship between these 2 concurrent B-cell lymphoproliferative processes.