[Progressive infiltration of cranial nerves as first manifestation of primary meningeal lymphoma].

Primary meningeal lymphomas are an infrequent disease representing 1% of the primary cerebral lymphomas. Progressive paraparesia constitutes the most frequent presentation with progressive infiltration of the cranial nerves being an usual initial manifestation. The case of a primary meningeal lymphoma is presented in a 76 years old patient in whom the form of presentation involved progressive infiltration of cranial nerves. Repeated lumbar punctions demonstrated infiltration of cranial nerves. Repeated lumbar punctions demonstrated inflammatory changes with high protein levels and low sugar levels in cerebrospinal fluid and pleocytosis. No malignant cells were observed upon cytologic study of the LCR. The importance of the determination of tumor markers in LCR and the use of MR with gadolinium in the early diagnosis of this entity is commented upon.