Intramedullary localization of a primary cerebral lymphoma in AIDS

A 36 years-old male with AIDS, presented with left hemiparesis revealing a right parietal tumour. Stereotactic biopsy demonstrated a malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His condition partially improved following radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Three months later he was re-admitted with progressive bilateral root pain and urinary incontinence resulting in paraplegia with sensory loss below T10. He died one month later from generalized sepsis. Neuropathology confirmed an immunoblastic B-cell malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the white matter of the right parietal lobe and revealed a centrospinal localisation of the lymphoma in the thoracic cord at T10. There was no visceral localisation of the tumour. Secondary spread to the spinal cord of malignant non Hodgkin's lymphomas, usually causes meningo-myelo-radiculitis. Intraspinal deposits of primary cerebral lymphomas are uncommon and have never been previously described in AIDS, to our knowledge. Their pathogenesis is unclear. In our case, neuropathological findings are consistent with diffusion of the primary tumour to leptomeninges and secondary infiltration of the spinal cord along the perivascular spaces.