Factor VIII can be positive in a special type of malignant lymphoma, intravascular malignant lymphomatosis: an immunohistochemical investigation.

Abstract

This report presents seven cases of intravascular malignant lymphomatosis (IML). The patients exhibited clinical signs and symptoms of multiple cerebral infarctions and polyradiculopathy, but in each case the diagnosis of IML was only established by postmortem examination. The autopsies revealed that almost every organ was involved and that there were atypical cells which had proliferated intravascularly. This was especially remarkable in the central nervous system. Extravascular extension of the tumor cells was rarely observed. It was documented by immunohistochemical studies that the abnormal cells were B cell lymphoma cells with a high proliferative capacity. Factor VIII, an endothelial cell-related antigen, was detected in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells of two cases (28%), but this finding was considered to represent a non-specific absorption of factor VIII from the thrombi.