[Malignant lymphoma of the central nervous system and eye]

Intraocular lymphoma was encountered in 11.4% of the 79 examined patients with malignant lymphoma of the central nervous system. In most cases it had occurred long on an average of 26 months before the development of neurological manifestations and the diagnosis of cerebral lymphoma. Biomicroscopy showed intraocular lymphoma to manifest itself as corneal endothelial precipitation of translucent corpuscles, opacity of the vitreous body, and its posterior detachment. Isolated intraocular lymphoma has been misinterpreted as uveitis of unclear etiology. In this connection, resistance to steroidal and antibacterial therapy should be an indication for diagnostic vitrectomy, followed by an immunohistochemical study of a biopsy specimen. The intraarterial administration of methotrexate, by breaking the blood-brain barrier, caused regression of cerebral lymphoma, but did not result in that of intraocular lymphoma, on this basis the authors consider the intravitreal injection of the agent to be indicated.