Hodgkin's disease and granulomatous angiitis of the central nervous system

Abstract

Granulomatous angiitis of the central nervous system, a pathologic entity associated previously with a fatal prognosis, is reported in a patient with Hodgkin's disease. Viral isolation, indirect fluorescent antibody, and electron microscopic studies performed on fresh cerebral tissue were negative. The granulomatous angiitis of the central nervous system in this patient remitted following therapy for Hodgkin's disease. The epidemiologic, clinical and pathologic data in all reported cases of granulomatous angiitis of the central nervous system suggest that it: 1) may have more than one etiology; 2) may not always be fatal; 3) is associated with varicella-zoster virus and Hodgkin's disease; 4) is one of two granulomatous reactions found in association with Hodgkin's disease; and when found with Hodgkin's disease, 5) may remit with adequate therapy for the lymphoma.