Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Associated with Metastatic Lung Cancer: Case Report

Lymphomas are neoplastic transformations that affect lymphoid cells. Diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has a high degree of cell proliferation, accounting for 30% of all lymphomas. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and the recommended treatment is chemotherapy. Among the main complications resulting from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung cancer and chemotherapy used in their treatment, we can mention sepsis, acute kidney injury and febrile neutropenia. Febrile neutropenia can occur by suppressing the production of neutrophils. Sepsis, a widespread infection, is the main cause of acute kidney injury, which can also be caused by hydroelectrolytic complications or by nephrotoxicity. This is a report of a smoking patient with metastatic lung cancer who sought care due to progressive dysphagia, cough with chest pain, fever, and lower airways critical obstruction due to mediastinal lymphadenopathy, being diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The patient evolved to death because of a significant worsening of the ventilatory pattern of multifactorial cause, mainly due to sepsis, acute kidney injury, and febrile neutropenia. The patient had mostly classic characteristics of her comorbidities, however, the overlapping of interrelated comorbidities led to the outcome of death. What is unusual about the present case report is that the patient’s characteristics, such as age, sex, and ethnicity, are opposite to those described as risk factors for diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.