Cranial nerve involvement in children with leukemia and lymphoma.

Between 1965 and 1982, 52 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were found to have central nervous system involvement of their disease. Of this group, 20 developed clinically apparent cranial nerve paresis or palsy. The cranial nerve most frequently affected was No. VII. With therapy, 16 of the patients had objective control of their central nervous system disease. Among these 16 patients, cranial nerve palsies resolved completely in 14, and only two children were left with residual cranial nerve dysfunction. Seven patients received intrathecal chemotherapy before radiation therapy was instituted in an attempt to control their cranial nerve palsies. Cranial nerve palsy resolved in only two of these seven patients. However, the addition of whole-brain irradiation in the remaining five patients reversed cranial nerve dysfunction in four of them. The combination of intrathecal chemotherapy and central nervous system irradiation was successful in reversing cranial nerve dysfunction in 11 of 13 patients in whom central nervous system disease was ultimately controlled. As cranial nerve dysfunction is associated with distressing signs and symptoms, the combination of central nervous system irradiation and intrathecal chemotherapy is important palliative therapy to initiate promptly. Intrathecal therapy alone appears to be inadequate therapy for prompt and durable reversal of symptoms in this group of patients.