Abstract
Primary lymphoma of the central nervous system (CNS) is difficult to diagnose because of the difficulty in differentiating it from multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, metastatic disease, chronic granulomatous disease, and cerebral cysticercosis. With the patient presented in this report, no abnormalities were found after performing laboratory tests, using radiographic modalities, and taking biopsies. Dexamethasone treatment was initiated, and patient's symptoms improved.
Primary CNS lymphoma was not diagnosed until a year after presentation, due to lack of tissue diagnosis. CNS must be suspected when a diagnosed tumor treated with steroid is not found at surgery. It is suggested that a computerized tomographic scan be requested before the start of steroid therapy, as the lesion can disappear with steroid treatment.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Holtås S., Nyman U., Cronqvist S. Computed tomography of malignant lymphoma of the brain. Neuroradiology. 1984;26(1):33–38. doi: 10.1007/BF00328201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jones G. R., Mason W. H., Fishman L. S., DeClerck Y. A. Primary central nervous system lymphoma without intracranial mass in a child. Diagnosis by documentation of monoclonality. Cancer. 1985 Dec 15;56(12):2804–2808. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19851215)56:12<2804::aid-cncr2820561216>3.0.co;2-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Merchut M. P., Haberland C., Naheedy M. H., Rubino F. A. Long survival of primary cerebral lymphoma with progressive radiation necrosis. Neurology. 1985 Apr;35(4):552–556. doi: 10.1212/wnl.35.4.552. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sagerman R. H., Cassady J. R., Chang C. H. Radiation therapy for intracranial lymphoma. Radiology. 1967 Mar;88(3):552–554. doi: 10.1148/88.3.542. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Singh A., Strobos R. J., Singh B. M., Rothballer A. B., Reddy V., Puljic S., Poon T. P. Steroid-induced remissions in CNS lymphoma. Neurology. 1982 Nov;32(11):1267–1271. doi: 10.1212/wnl.32.11.1267. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Spaun E., Midholm S., Pedersen N. T., Ringsted J. Primary malignant lymphoma of the central nervous system. Surg Neurol. 1985 Dec;24(6):646–650. doi: 10.1016/0090-3019(85)90123-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vaquero J., Martínez R., Rossi E., López R. Primary cerebral lymphoma: the "ghost tumor". Case report. J Neurosurg. 1984 Jan;60(1):174–176. doi: 10.3171/jns.1984.60.1.0174. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]