title: Peripheral T-cell lymphoma presenting as an ischemic stroke in a 23-year-old woman: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the unspecified variant is a highly aggressive subtype of T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is the first reported case of this type of lymphoma presenting as an ischemic stroke in a woman.
  
  
  METHODS
  A previously healthy 23-year-old woman presented with fever and hemiplegia. She was subsequently intubated after scoring 7 out of 15 at the Glasgow Coma Scale. Brain computed tomography scans of the patient depicted a massive sylvian infarction while an abdominal computed tomography scan revealed multiple enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and a retroperitoneal mass adjacent to the left psoas muscle. A diagnostic work up for inherited thrombophilia yielded negative results. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures for infectious agents also gave negative results. A biopsy of the retroperitoneal mass guided by computed tomography was inconclusive. A biopsy of an enlarged inguinal lymph node of the patient, combined with an immunophenotypic analysis, revealed an unspecified variant of peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The patient underwent chemotherapy but developed multiple organ failure. She died 26 days after she was admitted to our intensive care unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the unspecified variant is a highly aggressive subtype of peripheral T-cell lymphomas. The latter exhibit no consistent immunophenotypic, genetic, or clinical features. Clinicians should be aware of atypical clinical presentations of the above lymphomas such as ischemic stroke.
authors: Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Athens, 154 Mesogeion Avenue, Athens 11527, Greece.
authors: Mariantina
authors: M
authors: Fragou
authors: Dimitrios
authors: D
authors: Karakitsos
authors: Alexandros
authors: A
authors: Kalogeromitros
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Samonis
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Karabinis