A brain lymphoma came back in one eye after almost five years
Original title: Isolated Ocular Relapse Following Prolonged Remission in Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma: A Case Report.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This is a report on one patient, not a trial, though the drugs used are already standard care.
The short version
A woman's brain lymphoma came back in her eye years later, and brain scans did not show it.
What was studied. This is a report about one patient. She was a 78-year-old woman found to have primary central nervous system lymphoma in 2020, a rare cancer that starts in the brain.
What they found. She was treated with high-dose methotrexate and rituximab, and her scans showed no cancer left. She had no brain disease for nearly five years. Starting in 2023 her vision in one eye slowly got worse, and it was first blamed on an aging eye problem, while MRI scans stayed clear. In 2025 an eye cancer specialist found the lymphoma in her eye, and the same two drugs were given again, and she got better.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: If you had this kind of lymphoma and your vision changes, it is worth being checked by an eye doctor who knows eye cancer. A clear brain MRI does not always rule out disease in the eye. This report also shows that the standard treatment can work again, even when the cancer comes back late.
What it doesn't mean: This is one person's story, not a study of many patients. It does not prove that this will happen to you, or that treatment will work the same way for everyone. It is not a cure, and it does not change the treatment your doctor recommends. It is a reminder to speak up about vision changes.
Source: PubMed, August 11, 2026 · Read the original
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