• Lai-fung Li, Gilberto Ka-kit Leung, Ronnie Sin-lun Ho, and Wai-man Lui.
• Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
• World Neurosurg. 2015 Dec 1;84(6):2074.e5-9.

BackgroundNatural killer cell lymphoma is an uncommon hematologic malignancy, and central nervous system metastasis is rare. The classic magnetic resonance imaging appearance of lymphoma in the brain is T1 hypointense with strong homogeneous gadolinium enhancement, variable T2 signal, and restricted diffusion on diffusion-weighted images. Gadolinium enhancement is an important feature to differentiate lymphoma from infarction.Case DescriptionWe present the case of a middle-aged man who presented with recurrent natural killer cell lymphoma that metastasized to the cerebellum. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging did not show a contrast-enhancing lesion; imaging features were more suggestive of cerebral infarction. The patient subsequently died, and postmortem examination confirmed natural killer cell lymphoma metastasis to the cerebellum.ConclusionsLymphoma can mimic cerebral infarction on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. An imaging appearance of cerebral infarction in a patient with a history of lymphoma should raise suspicions of lymphoma metastasis.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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