Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma involving the inferior alveolar canal and mental foramen: Report of a case

Lymphomas are malignant lesions derived from proliferating lymphoid and/or reticuloendothelial cells and their derivatives.^1-3 It is believed that most non-Hodgkin's lymphomas arise in a unifocal or multifocal pattern from nodal tissue and then spread to distant nodal and visceral sites.⁴ Lymphoma of the oral cavity is an uncommon finding,^4-10 and the specific means by which these extranodal lymphomas occur has not been identified.^3,7 Of the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas that occur in the oral cavity, 15% to 45% have occurred in the maxilla and mandible,^8,11-13 with the mandible the less frequent site.^9,14. In this article, we present a case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the mandible involving the inferior alveolar canal and mental foramen, with an unusual radiographic presentation. A review of the radiographic presentations of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the mandible is also presented.