Endoscopic Appearances of Colorectal Lymphoma

The stomach is the most common location of gastrointestinal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas. Colorectal MALT lymphoma is rare, and this series of 51 cases from South Korea provides unique instruction about the spectrum of their endoscopic appearances.

About half of the patients were asymptomatic, and their cancers were diagnosed by screening colonoscopy. MALT lymphomas occurred in all parts of the colon, but 39% were in the rectum and 30% in the ileocecal region. Most patients received some form of treatment, and disease-specific survival was 98% at 5 years, indicating a good prognosis.

One endoscopic presentation was polyps, occurring in 20% of patients and typically featuring several small polyps with vessels on the surfa…