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Case Reports
. 2009 Sep;94(2):275-8.
doi: 10.1007/s11060-009-9821-8. Epub 2009 Mar 17.

Primary leptomeningeal oligodendrogliomatosis

Marlon S Mathews  1 , Laura S Paré, Jeffery V Kuo, Ronald C Kim
Affiliations
Case Reports

Primary leptomeningeal oligodendrogliomatosis

Marlon S Mathews et al. J Neurooncol. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Primary leptomeningeal oligodendrogliomas (PLOs) are rare intracranial malignancies where tumors grow in the subarachnoid space without an obvious connection to the brain or spinal cord parenchyma. Adding to the three previously reported cases of PLO with no parenchymal involvement we report a fourth case of the same in this paper in a 50-year-old woman presenting with unrelenting headaches. CT scan of her head revealed hydrocephalus and MRI revealed diffuse enhancement of her leptomeninges throughout her brain and spine, prominent over the basilar region. Biopsy obtained using a frameless stereotactic biopsy showed sharply defined cell borders, clear cytoplasm, and rounded nuclei consistent with an oligodendroglioma. Our case suggests that PLO can mimic diffuse forms of granulomatous meningitis and should be suspected in patients that clinically and radiographically present like granulomatous meningitis but without blood or CSF markers for the same.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Postcontrast T1 W MRI of brain (a, b), cervical (c) and lumbar (d) spine show diffuse enhancement of her leptomeninges throughout her brain and spine. Arrow in the axial brain image (a), points to the biopsy site
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Hematoxylin-eosin stained biopsy specimen under high magnification shows tumor cells with the sharply defined cell borders, clear cytoplasm, and rounded nuclei
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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