Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) has been recently characterised as an aggressive subtype of non‐Hodgkin’s lymphoma, most frequently arising in the oral cavity of HIV‐infected patients. To date, approximately 60 cases fulfilling the clinico‐pathological characteristics of PBL have been reported. PBLs are composed of large cells with eccentrically located nuclei and deeply basophilic cytoplasm with a paranuclear hof. The tumour cells are invariably immunoreactive for the plasma cell marker CD138, and show monoclonal rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IgH) and/or clonal restriction of the Ig light chain (IgL) gene expression in most of the cases. Similar to other types of AIDS‐related lymphomas, there is evidence that Epstein–Barr virus and Kaposi‐sarcoma associated Human Herpes Virus 8 may play a relevant role in the pathogenesis of PBL. PBL patients have been treated heterogeneously, with a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery, and their prognosis is usually poor, with a death rate of approximately 60% at 1 year.