[Intramedullary meningeal melanocytoma]

Abstract

A primary benign melanotic tumour was resected twice in the thoracic spinal cord of a 49-year-old woman. The patient had complained of low back pains, obstipation and mictional urgency for two years. She developed a partial Brown-Sequard's syndrome at th10-th12 level. The tumour showed the histological and immunohistochemical features of a meningeal melanocytoma. The following up was marked by tumoral seeding in the lumbosacral region and later in the cerebral hemispheres, which lead to death 4 years after the diagnosis. This is a survey of the clinical and morphological characteristics of meningeal melanocytoma and demonstrates the risk of secondary dissemination of this primary benign tumour.