Bilateral Blindness: Mantle Cell Lymphoma Infiltration of the Optic Nerves

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of B cell origin. It represents 3-6 % of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas 2 and typically presents in older men. 3 It is usually diagnosed in the advanced stages when diffuse lymphadenopathy and extranodal involvement is present. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is very rare and portends an extremely poor prognosis. Furthermore, neuro-ophthalmic involvement of this disease is rarely discussed and only described in sparse case reports in the literature. We present the first noted case of bilateral blindness as the initial presentation for CNS infiltration of mantle cell lymphoma.