Assessment of free light chains in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with lymphomatous meningitis – a pilot study

Abstract
Lymphomatous meningitis (LM) represents a severe complication of malignant lymphomas. While clinical suspicion is raised by symptoms ranging from mild disturbances of sensation to severe pain or impaired consciousness, the definite diagnosis of LM is often difficult to obtain. Since B-cell lymphomas are clonally restricted to express either kappa or lambda immunoglobulin light chain, we hypothesised that analysis of free light chain (FLC) ratios might facilitate the diagnosis of LM.