Concomitant detection of hematological neoplasm and carcinoma: report on seven cases.

Context: The presence of multiple neoplasms in one patient is an uncommon event. Its occurrence ranges from 1.2% to 4.5% of cancer patients in autopsy and clinical studies. In the present article, cases of synchronous diagnoses of carcinoma and lymphoid neoplasms are reported. The intention of this report was to alert clinicians and pathologists to the possibility of the existence of concomitant neoplasms, in order to prevent inaccurate or delayed diagnosis and staging.

Cases: Seven patients (four female and three male) with a median age of 61.4 years were diagnosed as having concomitant epithelial and hematological neoplasms.

Discussion And Conclusion: Lymph nodes should be carefully examined when searching for metastases, because of the possibility of a second hematological malignancy. Whenever uncommon suspicious morphological features are seen in such neoplasms, an immunohistochemical analysis is essential.