Diagnostics and treatment delay in primary central nervous system lymphoma: What the neurosurgeon should know

Abstract

Purpose: The gold standard for diagnostics in primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is histopathological diagnosis after stereotactic biopsy. Yet, PCNSL has a multidisciplinary diagnostic work up, which associated with diagnostic delay and could result in treatment delay. This article offers recommendations to neurosurgeons involved in clinical decision-making regarding (novel) diagnostics and care for patients with PCNSL with the aim to improve uniformity and timeliness of the diagnostic process for patients with PCNSL.

Methods: We present a mini review to discuss the role of stereotactic biopsy in the context of novel developments in diagnostics for PCNSL, as well as the role for cytoreductive surgery.

Results: Cerebrospinal fluid-based diagnostics are supplementary and cannot replace stereotactic biopsy-based diagnostics.

Conclusion: Histopathological diagnosis after stereotactic biopsy of the brain remains the gold standard for diagnosis. Additional diagnostics should not be a cause of diagnostic delay. There is currently no sufficient evidence supporting cytoreductive surgery in PCNSL, with recent studies showing contradictive data and suboptimal study designs.

Keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid-based diagnostics; Diagnostic delay; Primary central nervous system lymphoma; Stereotactic biopsy.