Clinical features and imaging manifestations for intravascular large B-cell lymphoma

Intravascular large B-cell lymphomas are a rare group of extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas with no apparent specificity of symptoms and often a poor prognosis. This study aims to investigate the clinical features and imaging manifestations of intravascular large B-cell lymphoma, to improve the awareness of clinicians and imaging physicians and to reduce the underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of this disease.

Five patients with pathologically confirmed intravascular large B-cell lymphoma diagnosed between December 2011 and February 2022 at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University were retrospectively analyzed for clinical features and imaging manifestations.

The age range for the 5 patients in this paper was 44-72 years at an average of (55.4±11.2) years, 2 were male and 3 were female. There were 4 patients with fever, 3 patients with cough, 3 patients with fatigue, and 2 patients with neurological symptoms. The primary sites of lesions were bilateral adrenal glands (2 cases), liver (1 case), central nervous system (1 case), lung (1 case). Imaging of the corresponding site was performed in 5 cases. When the primary site is the adrenal gland, it appears as bilateral adrenal masses or bilateral adrenal thickening with clear contours. When the primary site is the liver, it appears as a hypodense lesion in the right lobe of the liver with "vascular floating sign". When the primary site is the central nervous system, it appears as multiple tumor-like lesions in the frontal-parietal-occipital lobe, right temporal lobe and bilateral cerebellar hemispheres with multiple hemorrhages within the lesions. When the primary site is the lung, it appears as multiple ground glass shadows and solid changes in both lungs with localized lobular septal thickening. The final pathological diagnosis was intravascular large B-cell lymphoma in all 5 patients, one of whom had a good prognosis after chemotherapy, 2 of whom died within 3 days of discharge, and two of whom were lost to follow-up.

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma can involve multiple tissues and organs, and its prognosis is often poor, and its imaging manifestations possess certain specificity. When this disease is highly suspected, a biopsy of the corresponding organ should be performed as soon as possible to clarify the diagnosis.