Taxane-derived agents are chemotherapy drugs widely employed in cancer treatment. Among them, paclitaxel and docetaxel are most commonly administered, but newer formulations are being investigated. Taxane antineoplastic activity is mainly based on the ability of the drugs to promote microtubule assembly, leading to mitotic arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells. Peripheral neurotoxicity is the major non-hematological adverse effect of taxane, often manifested as painful neuropathy experienced during treatment, and it is sometimes irreversible. Unfortunately, taxane-induced neurotoxicity is an uncertainty prior to the initiation of treatment. The present review aims to dissect current knowledge on real incidence, underlying pathophysiology, clinical features and predisposing factors related with the development of taxane-induced neuropathy.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell systemic immunotherapy has revolutionized how clinicians treat several refractory and relapsed hematologic malignancies. Due to its peculiar mechanism of action, CAR T-cell-based therapy has enlarged the spectrum of neurological toxicities. CAR T-cell-associated neurotoxicity—initially defined as CAR T-cell-related encephalopathy syndrome (CRES) and currently coined within the acronym ICANS (immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome)—is perhaps the most concerning toxicity of CAR T-cell therapy. Importantly, hematologic malignancies (especially lymphoid malignancies) may originate in or spread to the central nervous system (CNS) in the form of parenchymal and/or meningeal disease. Due to the emergence of deadly and neurological adverse events, such as fatal brain edema in some patients included in early CAR T-cell trials, safety concerns for those with CNS primary or secondary infiltration arose and contributed to the routine exclusion of individuals with pre-existing or active CNS involvement from pivotal trials. However, based primarily on the lack of evidence, it remains unknown whether CNS involvement increases the risk and/or severity of CAR T-cell-related neurotoxicity. Given the limited treatment options available for patients once they relapse with CNS involvement, it is of high interest to explore the role of novel clinical strategies including CAR T cells to treat leukemias/lymphomas and myeloma with CNS involvement. The purpose of this review was to summarize currently available neurological safety data of CAR T-cell-based immunotherapy from the clinical trials and real-world experiences in adult patients with CNS disease due to lymphoma, leukemia, or myeloma. Increasing evidence supports that CNS involvement in hematologic disease should no longer be considered per se as an absolute contraindication to CAR T-cell-based therapy. While the incidence may be high, severity does not appear to be impacted significantly by pre-existing CNS status. Close monitoring by trained neurologists is recommended.

SUMMARY: Lymphomas of the CNS are the second most frequent primary brain malignancy in adults after gliomas. Presurgical suspicion of lymphoma greatly impacts patient management. The radiologic features of this tumor have been widely covered in the literature for decades, but under current classifications, mainly corresponding to the most common presentations of the most frequent type: primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the CNS. Nevertheless, rarer presentations of this specific lymphoma and of other World Health Organization lymphoma subtypes with different imaging features are rarely treated. Moreover, important advances in imaging techniques, changing epidemiologic factors with relevant impact on these tumors (eg, immunodeficiency/dysregulation), and recent updates of the World Health Organization Classification of CNS Tumors 2021 and Hematolymphoid Tumors 2022 may have rendered some accepted concepts outdated. In this article, the authors aim to fulfill a critical need by providing a complete update-review, emphasizing the latest clinical-radiologic features of the full spectrum of lymphomas involving the CNS.