Abbassi Mashya, Riley Roger, Malkin Mark, Tang Yang, Rajendran Bipin, Yazbeck Victor
From the School of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Exp Clin Transplant. 2019 Feb;17(1):111-114. doi: 10.6002/ect.2016.0171. Epub 2017 Apr 27.
Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder is a serious complication of solid-organ transplant. Extranodal involvement is common; however, isolated involvement of the central nervous system is extremely rare and represents a particularly difficult therapeutic challenge with no current consensus on optimal treatment. Here, we describe a 70-year-old woman who developed Epstein-Barr virus-related primary central nervous system lymphoma 19 months after kidney transplant. Immunosuppression was reduced, and the patient was started on high-dose methotrexate, which was complicated by acute kidney injury and discontinued. She then received a rituximab and temozolomide chemotherapeutic regimen and achieved complete clinical response. Seventeen months after diagnosis, she is alive and has not developed any other posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder. We review the current literature and discuss treatment options for patients with primary central nervous system posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder following kidney transplant.