Muscular involvement by Malignant Lymphoma: CT and MR Findings

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To investigate the CT and MR findings of muscular involvement by malignant lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen patients with biopsy-proved muscular involvement by malignant lymphoma were included in this study. Two patients were primary muscle lymphoma and 11 patients were muscle lymphoma by secondary involvement of malignant lymphoma. CT of 10 patients (6 pre-contrast CT and 9 post-contrast CT) and MRI of 6 patients (all with pre- and post-contrast studies) were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In the majority of patients (84.6%, 11/13), the appearance of muscular involvement was the diffuse enlargement of several muscles as like as a group. The muscles involved by malignant lymphoma showed isoattenuation (5/6) and homogeneity (6/6) on pre-contrast CT scan, and high attenuation (5/9) or iso-attenuation (4/9) and homogeneity (7/9) on post-contrast CT scan. The signal intensity of involved muscle showed slightly hyper- (4/6) or iso-intense (2/6) and homogeneous (6/6) on T1-weighted images, and hyper-intense (6/6) and homogeneous (4/6) on T2- and Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted images. Adjacent bone change was demonstrated in 69.2% (9/13), subcutaneous fat change in 61.5% (8/13), and neurovascular encasement within involved muscle in 53.8% (7/13). CONCLUSION: The CT and MR findings of muscular involvement by malignant lymphoma were diffuse enlargement of several muscles with homogeneous attenuation or signal intensity, and frequent changes in adjacent bones and subcutaneous fat, or neurovascular encasement.