[Calcified cerebral metastases. Study of two cases and review of literature]

Abstract

Although the most frequent cause of intracranial neoplasms are metastases, they very rarely calcify; classic histopathological series have shown the incidence to be approximately 1%. We have found 54 reported cases of intracranial calcified metastasis, the most frequent primary tumour reported being pulmonary adenocarcinoma (13 cases) and adenocarcinoma of gastrointestinal tract and adenocarcinoma of breast (8 cases each). Some reports have shown a longer survival in patients with this kind of image on cerebral scans. We present two patients with intracranial calcified metastasis due to dissemination in both cases of pulmonary adenocarcinomas. The survival under treatment in both patients was similar to that of patients with no calcified metastasis on brain scans. So, facing calcified intracranial lesions, metastatic origin should be considered in the differential diagnosis, pulmonary tumours being the first to be ruled out.