Today at conference we had a patient presenting with ascites. Most ascites cases are from portal hypertension but 10% are from malignancy. They were found to have Burkitt’s lymphoma, a rare form of highly aggressive lymphoma.
Teaching points:
Remember that ascites is not always secondary to portal hypertension from cirrhosis. It usually is. But not always
A cell count, total protein and albumin level would differentiate the etiologies of ascites in most cases
Recognize the key differences between indolent, aggressive and very aggressive lymphomas
Understand the unique pathophysiology of Burkitt’s Lymphoma and remember it is one of the tumors / conditions highly associated with spontaneous TLS