Malignant lymphoproliferative disorders in chronic liver disease. Report of four cases and review of the literature.

Four patients who manifested an association between chronic liver disease and lymphoma are reported. Three of them had nonalcoholic cirrhosis and one had chronic cholangitis. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma developed long after the presence of liver disease had been established in three of the patients. The fourth patient died of hepatic coma and Hodgkin's disease was discovered incidentally at autopsy. Drugs could not be incriminated in the development of either cirrhosis or lymphoma in any of the patients. A review of the literature is presented, and the view that the association between chronic liver disease and lymphoma is not coincidental is supported.