Leptomeningeal metastasis of malignant lymphoma with negative results in magnetic resonance imaging: a case report.

PURPOSE: Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which occasionally involves the central nervous system, occurs more often in high-grade cases and implicates a poor prognosis. Leptomeningeal metastases may present as multiple cranial nerve involvements. Diagnosis is achieved by recognizing the clinical manifestations, followed by neuroradiologic studies and laboratory examination of the cerebrospinal fluid. But normal studies of either method do not exclude such a diagnosis.

CASE REPORT: We present one female patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, who had multiple cranial nerve palsies as signs of central nervous system involvement, but who had negative results in her neuroimaging studies.

CONCLUSION

Patients with multiple cranial nerve palsies should receive cytological examinations of the cerebrospinal fluid in spite of the negative neuroimaging results.