CASE REPORT A Peculiar Case of Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma and Review of Literature

The term splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) was first coined by Schmid and colleagues in 1992 who used it to describe four cases of primary low grade B cell lymphomas of the spleen with distinct clinical, morphological and immunophenotypic features (1). It is now clear that SMZL and splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes (SLVL) have the same pathologic features but different expressions of circulating cells (2,3). After the recognition of an unusual intrasinusoidal bone marrow infiltration definitive diagnosis can be made by bone marrow biopsy alone (4), avoiding an unnecessary splenectomy (5).