PRIMARY ANGIITIS OF THE CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM ASSOCIATED WITH HODGKINS-DISEASE

An unusual case of primary angiitis of the central nervous system asso ciated with Hodgkin's disease in a 55-year-old man is reported. After a 10-month history of acute transverse myelitis, the patient was diagn osed as having nodular sclerosing-type Hodgkin's disease involving the retroperitoneal lymph nodes. The patient died of a brainstem hemorrha ge 1 week after a 15-day course of chemotherapy. Primary angiitis was documented on autopsy examination. To our knowledge, only nine similar cases have been reported in the literature, and none of them was asso ciated with a sole initial spinal cord presentation. Owing to the rari ty of this disease entity, a high index of suspicion and awareness of the association between primary angiitis and Hodgkin's disease are ess ential for early diagnosis.