Introduction. Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare tumor. It is diagnosed in 1-3% of all primary malignant tumors of the CNS. However its incidence increased over the past ten years amongst the immunesupressed and also the immunocompetent patients. PCNSL incidence amongst neurooncology patients is increasing in Latvia as well, therefore it is important to draw more attention to this problem.
Aim of the study. Research and analyse the experience of the Riga Eastern Clinical University hospital (RECUH) in the management of the patients with PCNSL over the last 11 years (from 2001 till 2012). In this research the data about the incidence of the disease, the connection between the age and sex, as well as the diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities are discussed.
Materials and methods. This is a retrospective descriptive study. In this study were included all the patients with morphologically confirmed PCNSL (n=18) that were operated in the neurosurgical clinic in the 11-year time period (from 2001 till 2012). The statistical analysis of the data was made by means of the Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS 20th version of the descriptive statistical methods.
Results. Over 11 years (from 2001 till 2012) PCNSL was confirmed in 18 patients, 17 (94.44%) of which were immunocompetent and in 1 patient (5.56%) HIV C1 stadium was diagnosed. Amongst immunocompetent patients 47.06% (n=8) were male and 52.94% (n=9) were female in the age between 45 and 79 years with average age of 64.41 years. Most often PCNSL was diagnosed in the age group between 65 and 69 years. 83.33% of all the PCNSL cases were diagnosed beginning with 2007. In all of the PCNSL patients a B-cell-lymphoma was morphologically confirmed. By admission the average Karnofsky Performance Scale Index was 57.78 in all patients, but after receiving a combination of therapy it was 77.78. The median survival amongst all of the patients was 515 days or 17 month, but amongst the patients, that received the full range combination therapy, the median survival achieved 867 days or 29 month.
Conclusions. The analysed data demonstrates that the incidence of PCNSL has mighty increased over the past six years and PCNSL is more often diagnosed in elderly, in which the KPS index and the median survival considerably increases after the combination therapy.
