Primary central nervous system non-Hodgkin lymphoma in childhood presenting as bilateral optic neuritis.
BACKGROUND
Primary central nervous system lymphoma is a very rare condition in pediatric patients.


METHODS
We describe the case of a 10-year old girl who presented with acute bilateral vision impairment. At the time of presentation, the only positive finding was optic disk swelling, and the brain MRI scan was normal. Seventeen months later, she developed a large-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the brain, with no evidence of neoplasia elsewhere. Immunodeficiencies and Epstein-Barr virus infection could not be demonstrated. The patient was successfully treated with a combination of cyclophosphamide, etoposide, vincristine, methotrexate, and cytarabine, plus intrathecal chemotherapy. Craniospinal irradiation was not used.


RESULTS
The patient's condition is still in remission 68 months after completing the treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
This case is the only non-Hodgkin lymphoma with primary central nervous system location treated in our institution in the last 10 years and represents less than 0.5% of our non-Hodgkin lymphoma series. Due to its rare occurrence, not much is known about the clinical features and treatment outcome of primary central nervous system lymphoma in pediatric patients.
Medina-Sanson
Aurora
A
Department of Oncology, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gomez, Dr. Marquez Num 162, Colonia Doctores, C.P. 06720, Distrito Federal, México. aurmesan@aol.com
Chico-Ponce de León
Fernado
F
Cabrera-Muñoz
María de Lourdes
Mde L
Gallegos-Castorena
Sergio
S
Caltenco-Serrano
Raul
R
Barragán-Pérez
Eduardo
E
D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009902:Optic Neuritis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology