Clinical value of abnormal findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging in patients with intravascular large B-cell lymphoma

To investigate the prevalence and clinical value of abnormal findings detected via brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL), we identified 33 patients with IVLBCL pathologically diagnosed and evaluated with pretreatment brain MRI. Abnormal findings on brain MRI were categorized into four patterns: (1) hyperintense lesion in the pons on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), (2) nonspecific white matter lesions, (3) infarct-like lesions, and (4) meningeal thickening and/or enhancement. Abnormal cerebral findings were detected in 29 patients (87.9%). Hyperintense lesion in the pons was the most common finding (n?=?19 (57.6%) patients), followed by nonspecific white matter lesions (n?=?14 (42.4%) patients), infarct-like lesions (n?=?8 (24.2%) patients), and meningeal thickening and/or enhancement (n?=?4 (12.1%) patients). Impaired consciousness was seen in most of the patients with infarct-like lesions (87.5%) but less frequently in patients with hyperintense lesion in the pons (47.4%). We reviewed brain MRI findings in 39 patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma with central nervous system (CNS) involvement and/or high-risk extranodal lesions for CNS involvement as a control group. In contrast to the patients with IVLBCL, no patient had hyperintense lesion in the pons in the control group (P?