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editorial
. 2021 Jun 14;79(6):557–558. doi: 10.1590/0004-282X-anp-2020-0394

Sentinel inflammatory demyelinating lesions preceding primary CNS lymphoma

Lesões inflamatórias desmielinizantes sentinelas precedendo linfoma primário do SNC

Danielle Mesquita TORRES 1, Milena Sales PITOMBEIRA 1, Igor Bessa SANTIAGO 1, Gabriela Joca MARTINS 1, Kellen Paiva FERMON 1, Daniel Gurgel Fernandes TAVORA 1, Fernanda Martins Maia CARVALHO 1,2
PMCID: PMC9394580  PMID: 34190816

A 29-year-old man presented with acute seizures and visual impairment. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed multiple white matter T2-lesions with incomplete peripheral enhancement (Figures 1A to 1C). Considering the hypothesis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) was administrated with full recovery. Two years later, he presented right-sided weakness. MRI disclosed a new T2-lesion, and spectroscopy suggested a tumefactive inflammatory pattern (Figures 1D to 1H). New extensive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood workup, including aquaporin-4-IgG, was unremarkable. Partial improvement was observed following IVMP. Six months later, after new weakness in the left arm along with a new periventricular lesion (Figures 1I to 1L), a brain biopsy was performed. Histopathological analysis revealed primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma (Figure 2)1,2,3.

Figure 1. Magnetic resonance imaging exams. (A-C): first magnetic resonance imaging performed on March 2016 indicated diffusion restriction on diffusion-weighted image (A), T2 hypersignal (B), and peripheral enhancement on post-contrast T1 sequences (C). D-H: Neuroimaging performed on July 2018 showed a new lesion with peripheral restricted diffusion on diffusion-weighted image (D), T2 hypersignal (E), thick annular enhancement (F), spectroscopy revealed Cho peak increase (G) and minimal relative cerebral blood volume map (rCBV) increase. (H). (I-L): Brain magnetic resonance imaging performed on January 2019 disclosed a new right periventricular lesion with diffusion restriction on diffusion-weighted image (I), mild T2 hyperintensity sequences (J), and homogeneous contrast enhancement (L).

Figure 1.

Figure 2. Histopathological examination showed atypical lymphoid cell proliferation.

Figure 2.

References

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