We present two patients with enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL) combined with intestinal perforations. They were 53- and 74-year-old men who were diagnosed as having panperitonitis due to intestinal perforation, and underwent emergency surgeries. The former had multiple perforations in the small intestine and the colon. The latter had two lesions in the small intestine one of which was perforated. Despite the complete resection of the perforated bowels, the former patient died of multi-organ failure without receiving any chemotherapeutic agents on the 11^th postoperative day. Another patient also died of the disease 5 months after the surgery despite receiving postoperative chemotherapy.
A review of a total of 63 domestic cases disclosed that EATL carried an extremely poor prognosis, except few long-term survivors. Because EATL often appears as multiple lesions simultaneously, it is important to resect all lesions by investigating the entire bowels. Another issue which could contribute to long time survival of the patients with EATL with bowel perforation might be early postoperative chemotherapy for T-cell lymphoma as soon as possible.