TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC CEREBRAL-LESIONS DURING INDUCTION CHEMOTHERAPY FORACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

Ninety children were treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-H odgkin lymphoma during 1986 through 1992 in the Children's Hospital, U niversity of Helsinki, in Finland. During induction chemotherapy, nine of the children had visual hallucinations progressing to confusion an d seizure. The symptoms were often preceded by severe constipation and significantly elevated blood pressure. Neuroradiologic examinations s howed bilateral cortical or subcortical white matter lesions. Despite the strokelike manifestations, the lesions were reversible. The triang ular shope and location of the lesions in the watershed areas between the major cerebral arteries suggest vascular ischemia as the cause.