The association of gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and the subsequent development of gastric adenocarcinoma is an exceptional finding. In our series of 24 cases of primitive NHL of the stomach diagnosed between 1966 and 1985 only one developed gastric adenocarcinoma. It was a 38-year-old male with a gastric NHL of immunocytoma type and in the stage IE of the Ann Arbor classification. The patient was treated with subtotal gastrectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. Twenty-seven months later an adenocarcinoma of the gastrojejunal anastomosis mucosa was found. In the review of the literature we have found 17 cases of this association. Gastric adenocarcinoma developed 3.5-34 years after the treatment of gastric NHL. The implicated factors in the development of this association are: gastric resection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and NHL itself.