Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Jul;43(7):4559-4561.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-022-06077-w. Epub 2022 Apr 23.

Superficial siderosis in long-standing pilocytic astrocytoma

Alessandra Erbetta  1 , Filippo Savoldi  2 , Valentina Opancina  3   4 , Gianluca Marucci  5 , Marco Schiariti  6 , Veronica Redaelli  7 , Elisa F M Ciceri  3 , Luisa Chiapparini  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Superficial siderosis in long-standing pilocytic astrocytoma

Alessandra Erbetta et al. Neurol Sci. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) rarely spreads along neuraxis, and association with superficial siderosis (SS) and chronic signs of intracranial hypertension is exceptional.

Case report: A 48-year-old woman presented with slow onset hearing loss in the past year. Clinical examination revealed dysarthria, positive Romberg test, and severe optic neuropathy. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis showed numerous red blood cells, increased proteins and LDH, and high opening pressure. Brain and spine MRI demonstrated extensive superficial siderosis, bone remodeling of the skull base and spine, and diffuse nodular leptomeningeal enhancement. Histological examination of a nodule in the dorsal spine evidenced PA.

Conclusion: We report a case of PA associated with dural remodeling and SS. The mechanism of SS is unclear but might be related to meningeal tumor infiltration and altered CSF composition and resorption.

Keywords: Bone remodeling; Dural remodeling; Intracranial hypertension; Pilocytic astrocytoma; Superficial siderosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Mazloom A, Hodges JC, Teh BS et al (2012) Outcome of patients with pilocytic astrocytoma and leptomeningeal dissemination. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 84:350–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2011.12.044 - DOI - PubMed
    1. White JB, Piepgras DG, Scheithauer BW, Parisi JE (2008) Rate of spontaneous hemorrhage in histologically proven cases of pilocytic astrocytoma. J Neurosurg 108:223–226. https://doi.org/10.3171/JNS/2008/108/2/0223 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Levy M, Turtzo C, Llinas RH (2007) Superficial siderosis: a case report and review of the literature. Nat Clin Pract Neurol 3:54–58. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0356 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kumar N (2012) Beyond superficial siderosis: introducing “duropathies.” Neurology 78:1992–1999. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e318259e272 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kumar N (2021) Superficial siderosis: a clinical review. Ann Neurol 89:1068–1079. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.26083 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources