[Magnetic resonance imaging features for primary brain lymphoma]

To investigate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features for primary brain lymphoma and improve its diagnosis and differential diagnosis.
 Methods: The clinical and MRI data from 14 patients with primary brain lymphoma were retrospectively reviewed.
 Results: Fourteen patients, including 5 males and 9 females, were (55±8) years old. There were 9 patients with single lesion and 5 patients with multiple lesions (2-6 lesions). A total of 26 lesions were identified. All lesions located in supratentorium, such as the cerebral hemisphere, the basal ganglia, and the corpus callosum. Most of them deeply located in the brain. The lesions presented slightly low or equal signal on T1-weighted image (T1WI), slightly high or equal signal on T2-weighted image (T2WI), and slightly high or equal signal on disffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), in which 2 lesions showed central necrosis and 2 lesions included hemorrhage. All of them showed significant enhancement, 3 of them showed annular enhancement, and the rest showed nodular and mass enhancement. The degree of para-tumorous edema for different lesions was different, including 20 lesions with marked edema, 4 with moderate edema, and 2 with slight edema.
 Conclusion: MRI features for primary brain lymphoma are specific. The tumors mostly locate in supratentorium and deep brain, showing multifocal growth, isointense to grey matter at T1WI and T2WI, marked enhancement, restricted diffusionon DWI, rare necrosis, and obvious space occupying effect.