Non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the endometrium in human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Background: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma has become a common malignancy in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), being classified as an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-defining malignancy. The female genital tract is involved usually with non-Hodgkin lymphoma as part of disseminated disease. It is extremely rare for this tumor to originate in the female reproductive tract, especially in the endometrium.

Case: An HIV-positive woman underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for intractable menometorrhagia and resultant anemia thought to be secondary to uterine leiomyoma. The histologic diagnosis was high-grade, immunoblastic, non-Hodgkin lymphoma with plasmacytoid features originating in the endometrium.

Conclusion: This unusual presentation obligates the clinician to include non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the differential diagnosis when evaluating HIV-positive patients with abnormal uterine bleeding that cannot be explained after thorough evaluation.