AIDS-Associated Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

doi:10.1001/jama.1993.03500010102041

AIDS-Associated Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Giorgio Galetto, MD;
Alexandar Levine, MD

for the Oncology Core Committee, AIDS Clinical Trials Group National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
From the Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Md (Dr Galetto); and University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles (Dr Levine).

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.

Excerpt

A CLINICAL and scientific impasse in the area of primary central nervous system (P-CNS) lymphoma related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has provoked this commentary from the Oncology Committee of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), a national cooperative group for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and its associated illnesses. We believe that progress in this area has been impeded because of two unwarranted assumptions: first, the fear of contagion, which has prevented some neurosurgeons from obtaining biopsy specimens from HIV-infected patients with intracerebral mass lesions¹; and second, the belief that treatment would be ineffective, which has prevented many primary practitioners from referring such patients, and many oncologists from treating them, even in the setting of prospective protocols. These attitudes have impeded attempts to obtain primary tissues from which to make appropriate diagnoses, or to develop improved therapeutic strategies, serving to fulfill existing negative expectations.