Central nervous system lymphoma: magnetic resonance imaging features at presentation.

OBJECTIVE This paper aimed at studying presentations of the central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma using structural images obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS The MRI features at presentation of 15 patients diagnosed with CNS lymphoma in a university hospital, between January 1999 and March 2011, were analyzed by frequency and cross tabulation. RESULTS All patients had supratentorial lesions; and four had infra- and supratentorial lesions. The signal intensity on T1 and T2 weighted images was predominantly hypo- or isointense. In the T2 weighted images, single lesions were associated with a hypointense signal component. Six patients presented necrosis, all of them showed perilesional abnormal white matter, nine had meningeal involvement, and five had subependymal spread. Subependymal spread and meningeal involvement tended to occur in younger patients. CONCLUSION Presentations of lymphoma are very pleomorphic, but some of them should point to this diagnostic possibility.