An Unusual Association between Neurofibromatosis Type 1 andDiffuse B Cell Lymphoma

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1) is known to be associated with increased risk of malignancy by at least fourfold. Malignantlymphomas are rare in adults with NF-1. Hereby, we present a 75-year-old male with NF-1 complaining of weakness, nausea,and vomiting associated with abdominal pain. Three months prior to presentation, he had suffered a motor vehicle accident(MVA) resulting in multiple rib fractures that was seen in chest X-ray. For the following three months, he had intermittentchest pain, but it was attributed to the recent rib fracture. During this admission, the severity of chest pain worsened and theassociated vomiting inclined further investigation; including CT imaging and bone biopsy, it was revealed to be a rare case ofdiffuse B cell lymphoma in a patient with NF-1. However, we believe the recent MVA caused an anchoring bias in making aprompt diagnosis. In addition, the appearance of the neurofibroma, resulted in suboptimal physical examination, and hence,there was a delay in reaching the diagnosis. We will discuss here the presentation of this case, to highlight the rare associationand to increase awareness of when encountering a challenging diagnosis.