Primary central nervous system lymphoma: a retrospective study

Eleven patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) proven with biopsy between January 1991 and September 1995 were analysed according to the location of lesions, pathological studies, treatment and outcome. The ages of these patients ranged from 25 to 74 years with an average of 51.4 years. The male to female sex ratio was 6 to 5. The most frequent sites of lesions were frontal lobes. One patient had only leptomeningeal involvement. All intracranial PCNSL in this report arose from B cells; the leptomeningeal PCNSL case was the only one which arose from T cells. All patients received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy, except two patients who did not receive any treatment. The results of treatment were generally poor. The survival time of patients who died ranged from 2.5 months to 45 months with a median of about 12.5 months. If a combined treatment is to be considered, the possibility of complications such as leucoencephalopathy should be taken in account.