[A case of intramedullary primary melanocytic tumor: meningeal melanocytoma or malignant melanoma?]

Abstract

We report a case of an intramedullary thoracic primary melanocytic tumor of the leptomeninges in a 38-year-old woman. According to the WHO classification, the lesion showed the histological features of a meningeal melanocytoma. Two local recurrences were successively operated on, two and three years after the first surgery respectively. The patient died of a subarachnoidian dissemination after a four year course. This case emphasized the therapeutic problems we have to deal with when facing an isolated black tumor of the central nervous system. The features and the differential diagnosis of the meningeal melanocytoma are detailed.