P14.85 Brain metastasis from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: case report and literature review

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Central nervous system (CNS) metastases from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) are very rare, occurring in 0.02–0.5% of cases. They are usually associated to systemic relapse of the disease. Treatment options for HL brain metastases include surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy. CASE REPORT A 54 year-old woman presented with thoracic pain and dyspnea. Chest CT showed a thoracic bulky mass larger than 10 cm. Biopsy confirmed HL stage IIA, nodular sclerosing variant. No typical B symptoms, such as fever, night sweats or weight loss, were observed. The patient underwent chemotherapy with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD scheme), followed by 30Gy mediastinic radiotherapy (RT), which led to complete remission in September 2017. After 3 months, she presented with headache and rapidly progressing gait disorder. MRI showed a contrast-enhanced lesion in the right occipital lobe, with central necrosis and massive edema. Total-body CT scan and FDG-PET ruled out either the presence of new solid tumors or systemic relapses of HL. Gross total resection of the brain lesion was carried out, and HL histology was confirmed. CSF analysis from lumbar puncture was normal. Afterwards, the patient underwent 2 cycles of high dose cytarabine, but she rapidly progressed, and received salvage RT (30 Gy). Nevertheless, further systemic progression occurred: the patient developed headache, diplopia and dysphagia and, unfortunately, she died 6 months after the diagnosis of brain metastasis. DISCUSSION Thus far, only 45 cases of CNS HL have been reported from 2000 to 2018. Whole brain radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy, was the most common treatment. In our patient, we chose surgical resection for the solitary brain metastasis followed by chemotherapy, delaying RT at recurrence. In the literature, median overall survival of patients diagnosed with brain metastases from HL is 18 months (1–273): 17 patients (38%) showed a progression (local / systemic: 12/17 - 71%), while 28 (62%) showed complete remission after a median follow-up of 20 months (6–273). CONCLUSION Intracranial localisation of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a rare entity but still has to be taken into account. Advanced brain imaging could be of help in case of uncertain radiological presentation. A multidisciplinary approach is needed as there is no consensus on the best treatment to choose: surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be considered on individual basis.