Aches and Pain in a child- An unusual cause

Abstract

Precursor B-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma presenting with severe pain and extensive skeletal lesions as an initial presentation is very rare. We report a nine year old boy who presented with lower backache and difficulty in walking of 2 months duration. He neither had lymphadenopathy nor organomegaly. His peripheral blood picture and bone marrow examination were normal. MRI revealed multiple lytic lesions in the spine and PET scan revealed metabolically active lytic lesions in the axial skeletal system and bilateral femurs and humerus. Biopsy of the vertebra revealed the diagnosis of precursor B cell lymphoma. A diagnosis of malignancy should never be missed in a patient with musculoskeletal pain, having ruled out infectious and traumatic etiologies especially when they present with several skeletal radiolucencies.