Primary intravascular lymphomatosis associated with Mycobacterium marinum

Intravascular lymphomatosis (i.v.l.) is a rare condition in which neoplastic cells preferentially infiltrate blood vessels of the central nervous system. Nonspecific symptoms associated with i.v.l. include dementia, seizures, and multifocal cerebrovascular events. i.v.l. was discovered at autopsy of a patient whose neurological deficits were predated by a particularly aggressive form of Mycobacterium marinum soft-tissue infection. It is speculated that i.v.l. may have had an occult effect on the patient's cell-mediated immunity that predisposed him to this normally innocuous mycobacteria.