Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Aug 1998
Case Reports[Subcutaneous manifestations of a centrocytic non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the injection site of a mistletoe preparation].
A 73-year-old man, first diagnosed as having centrocytic Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 5 years previously, presented with subcutaneous nodes of the abdominal wall at precisely the sites of previous regular injections of a mistletoe preparation. These nodes had first appeared 5 weeks after the first injection. Injections were stopped and he reported to the out-patient clinic. Except for the visible and easily nodes in the anterior wall no other subcutaneous nodes were palpated. Prominent cervical lymphomas and swelling of the epicranial aponeurosis and lower lip had, according to the patient, been present for some time. ⋯ There are pointers that high concentrations of mistletoe preparations subcutaneously injected can have a growth-promoting action on cells of a centrocytic lymphoma. As part of a leukaemic "wash-out", these cells reach the subcutaneous tissue. This proliferative stimulus may have been mediated by a high local concentration of interleukin-6 liberated from the skin by mistletoe lectins.