Abstract
Patients with malignant intracranial lymphoma have increased in number recently, and we investigated the clinical features of 8 cases treated at our department. The subjects were 4 males and 4 females with a mean of 54 years of age. The results were summarized as follows.
1. Typical initial symptoms were hemiplegia, disorientation, and raised intracranial pressure in that order.
2. All cases had an avascular mass on cerebral angiography.
3. CT scanning showed that most lesions were located in the paraventricular area and in the midline structures in the vicinity of the ventricular system, and multiple lesions were noted in four cases in these areas. A typical CT appearance was noted in all cases, but one patient did not show enhancement and the lesion was extremely difficult to distinguish from glioblastoma in other patient.
4. In 2 cases, abnormal findings were obtained by MRI although the lesions had resolved on CT during the process of the illness.
5. In 3 cases, recurrence was noted with their locations different from the initial sites.
6. Temporary remission was obtained in all cases, but four patients died of pulmonary complications.
The results suggest that it is possible to follow up these patients by imaging techniques including MRI, and that pulmonary complication is an important factor in determining the final prognosis.
