LYMPHOMA of the small intestine and mesenteric nodes has been recognized as a rare cause of malabsorption since 1937.1 Reviews in Western medical literature indicate that the small intestine may be involved as either part of a generalized lymphoma or as a primary disease of the intestine. The disease predominates in middle-aged patients, except for localized lymphomas of the ileum, which occur mainly in young children.2,3
In 1959, the late Simon Brandstaetter, MD, working at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, drew attention to the relative frequency of abdominal lymphoma with malabsorption; 11 of 24 of the cases occurred in Arab patients, and more than one half were under 30 years of age. Later studies and reviews in Israel have confirmed the initial impression that this syndrome is limited almost entirely to Arabs and Jews who were born in, or whose parents migrated from, Near Eastern or North