Efficacy and Limitations of Flow Cytometry for the Rapid Diagnosis of Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has a markedly high proliferation rate, making early diagnosis and prompt therapeutic intervention essential. To accelerate diagnosis, our institution adopted flow cytometry (FCM) in conjunction with conventional histopathology, and this study therefore evaluated the diagnostic performance of FCM for PCNSL.

We retrospectively analyzed 67 consecutive patients with suspected PCNSL who underwent intraoperative FCM between 2010 and 2023 based on preoperative imaging. B-cell clonality was defined as ≥20% CD19/CD20-positive cells with a κ/λ ratio of >3.0 or <0.5.

Using histopathology, we confirmed the presence of PCNSL in 42 patients, all diagnosed as having diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Six cases (14.3%) were discordant (FCM-D). The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of FCM were 85.7%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. T-cell markers were significantly elevated in FCM-D cases (p < 0.01), although these were pathologically diagnosed as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma based on histology and immunohistochemistry.

FCM yields reliable diagnostic information within hours of tissue collection and supports early therapeutic decisions in PCNSL. Discordant results may reflect reactive T-cell infiltration. This is the first study to present detailed subset analyses in PCNSL using FCM in correlation with pathology, underscoring its utility as a rapid diagnostic tool.