Radiology, Vol 154, 683-686, Copyright © 1985 by Radiological Society of North America
Primary and secondary histiocytic lymphoma of the brain: CT features
PJ Yang, JE Knake, TO Gabrielsen, JT Latack, SS Gebarski, BA Mehta and JJ Metes
The authors examined 19 patients with diffuse histiocytic lymphoma of the
brain, including 8 with primary disease and 11 with secondary disease. Both
primary disease and secondary disease involving the brainstem and deep
nuclei exhibited the characteristic CT appearance, consisting of a large,
solid, homogeneously enhanced mass with varying amounts of edema. However,
most secondary lymphomas outside the brainstem and basal ganglia contained
large areas of low attenuation consistent with necrosis. Multifocal lesions
were seen only in patients with secondary lymphoma. Systemic chemotherapy
for extracranial lymphoma had no effect on the CT appearance of
intracranial lesions. The authors suggest that these "unusual" CT patterns
are actually typical of a distinct subset of histiocytic lymphomas.
