Primary central nervous system lymphomas in immunocompetent patients

Objectives. Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare patology and is most often seen in immunodeficient patients. This article presents our casuistic of PCNSL in immunocompetent patients and make a literature review on this issue with focus on recent advances, investigations, and controversies in diagnosis and management of this patology. Matherial and methods. Nine patients operated in the last years in our clinics are analysed in relation to sex, age, time of symptoms, procedures and adjuvant treatment. Posteriorly the results are compared with those in the preview literature. Results. The age ranged from 44-68 years (middle of 66 years); 62,5% of the patients were female. The mean time of symptoms, when the diagnostic was made, was 3.2 months (range 1-6 months). The most common symptoms were hemiparesis (present in 75% of the patients) headache (37.5%) seizures (25%) and ataxia (25%). The most common localization was the parietal, frontal and temporal lobe surface with 25% of the patients for each localization. Five patients (50%) were treated with stereotactic biopsy, three with surgery (37.5%) and one (12.5%) with both of them. Five patients (62,5%) were submitted to pos-operative radiotherapy as adjuvant treatment. In relation to the hystology, the most common cell type was Difuse B Cells. Conclusions. This study demonstrated that complete surgical ressection followed by radiotherapy have shown good results. In opposition to the literature, the authors regards chemotherapy as a secondary line treatment and recommends its use only in some selected cases.