title: [Neurological clinical findings as the initial manifestation of a peripheral lymphoma].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lymphomas of the central nervous system include primary and secondary lymphomas of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin types. For a long time central nervous system involvement during the course of systemic non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been considered unusual, to occur late on in the disease process and usually to be located in the meninges.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe the case of a 27 year old man initially diagnosed as having a primary cerebral lymphoma after having had repeated convulsive crises. Two months later he was found to have a retroperitoneal mass. On anatomopathological study of the mass, a peripheral T lymphoma was confirmed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dissemination of systemic lymphomas to the central nervous system is usually seen in persons with advanced systemic disease. It is atypical to find a peripheral T lymphoma with initial clinical findings that were neurological, and even less frequent that these neurological findings were due to an intraparenchymatous lesion. In this article we describe a patient with these characteristics, and conclude that it is necessary to study patients with a diagnosis of primary cerebral lymphoma very fully to establish where the primary focus is.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neurología, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, España.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Medrano
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gracia
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Castaño
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aranda
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Pérez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016411:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Peripheral / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000209:etiology; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology*