OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and imaging findings of lymphoma after liver transplantation in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors reviewed records and imaging studies of children submitted to liver transplantation in the period between 2000 and 2008 in a single institution. RESULTS: Among 241 children submitted to liver transplantation, with a mean follow-up period of 41.4 ± 26.4 months, 16 (6.6%) had lymphoma. The mean age of the patients who developed lymphoma at the moment of transplantation was lower than in children who did not develop malignancy (23.9 ± 18.9 versus 38.0 ± 48.9 months; p = 0.02). The time interval between liver transplantation and the diagnosis of lymphoma ranged from 6 to 103 months. Clinical and radiological presentation was variable and the abdomen was the most common location of the tumor (n = 13; 81.3%), followed by chest and head and neck (n = 4; 25.0% each). Imaging findings included adenopathy, mediastinal, pulmonary and mesenteric masses, bowel wall thickening and hepatic and renal nodules. Four children (25.0%) died because of complications of lymphoma. CONCLUSION: Lymphomas are relatively uncommon and potentially fatal complications that may occur any time after pediatric liver transplantation, presenting different clinical and imaging findings.
Lymphoma; Hepatic transplantation; Pediatrics; Imaging diagnosis; Postoperative complications
