Get a Group Membership for your Organization. Free Trial
Pricing
Free TrialLogin

CNS Lymphoma

HIDE
PrevNext

0:00

I'd like to talk to you about this next case,

0:05

which is often in the differential diagnosis

0:09

of patients who have a glial tumor.

0:13

This was a patient who had behavioral

0:17

changes and aphasia and agitation.

0:22

The FLAIR imaging shows a mass which has

0:27

low signal intensity on the FLAIR scan

0:32

compared to the surrounding edema.

0:35

And on the ADC map which was also performed,

0:41

one can see the relatively low values of the ADC.

0:46

If we do a region of interest for

0:49

those ADC values of the mass,

0:53

you can see that the numbers on average are about 756,

0:59

but the low range is down at 588.

1:03

This mass showed avid contrast enhancement,

1:08

as you can see,

1:09

and the lesion was crossing the midline and there

1:12

was abnormal signal extending

1:13

into the corpus callosum.

1:16

On the perfusion imaging,

1:19

which was done without color coding,

1:22

you can see that as compared to the gray

1:24

matter which has this darker area,

1:27

the tumor is hypoperfused compared

1:31

to the gray matter,

1:32

but slightly greater perfusion than

1:35

that of the white matter.

1:37

When you have a mass that has low ADC values and

1:42

is not showing very avid perfusion and shows

1:48

homogeneous contrast enhancement and darker signal

1:53

on FLAIR or T2-weighted scanning.

1:56

Let me see whether I have a T2-weighted.

1:58

This is more classic T2-weighted scanning.

2:01

You can see how dark the lesion is.

2:03

You would include in your differential diagnosis

2:06

a lymphoma, as opposed to the glial tumors

2:11

such as glioblastoma.

2:13

So, we usually think of tumors that cross the

2:16

corpus callosum are going to be confined to high

2:20

grade astrocytomas and glioblastomas

2:23

and lymphomas. In this case,

2:25

it has many of the important features of lymphoma

2:29

with the dark on T2, low on ADC,

2:33

kind of intermediate in perfusion

2:37

cerebral blood volume

2:38

and avid contrast enhancement.

2:41

Now, for making this diagnosis,

2:44

if the lesion does go to the dural surface

2:46

or the subarachnoid space, or if you see,

2:49

as in this area over here,

2:52

a small area of ependymal enhancement,

2:56

you might recommend CSF sampling

2:59

as a way to make the diagnosis without having to

3:03

go through a biopsy or craniotomy.

3:06

The importance here is that glioblastomas

3:09

generally are treated with attempts

3:12

at complete resection,

3:14

whereas lymphoma is usually treated with

3:18

chemotherapy and radiation therapy

3:20

and is quite effective.

Report

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Oncologic Imaging

Neuroradiology

MRI

Brain

© 2024 MRI Online. All Rights Reserved.

Contact UsTerms of UsePrivacy Policy