AN UNUSUAL CASE OF PRIMARY LEPTOMENINGEAL MARGINAL ZONE B-CELL LYMPHOMA

Primary leptomeningeal lymphomas are rare, and usually fellow a rapid clinical course with early systemic involvement. A 60-year-old woman p resented with a 3-year history of worsening seizures and memory loss. Neuroimaging showed widespread meningeal calcification. After extensiv e investigations a meningeal biopsy revealed a low-grade B-cell lympho ma categorized as an extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma, attribu ted to the same histological group as the MALT (mucosa-associated lymp hoid tissue) lymphomas described in the stomach, thyroid, salivary gla nds and orbit. There was no evidence of systemic involvement. The exte nsive meningeal calcification would appear to be a novel finding in pr imary leptomeningeal lymphoma whereas the unusually long clinical hist ory in this case is possibly related to the particular histological ty pe of low-grade B-cell lymphoma.