Solitary metastatic breast carcinoma in a trigeminal nerve mimicking a trigeminal neurinoma. Case report.
An unusual case of a metastatic adenocarcinoma located entirely within the trigeminal nerve is reported. The patient, with a history of breast cancer, presented with a pure trigeminal mononeuropathy. The neurological and neuroradiological findings in this patient were quite similar to those of a patient with trigeminal neurinoma. Surgery revealed that the tumor was located within the trigeminal nerve and its appearance was similar to that of a neurinoma. However, histopathological studies proved the tumor to be an adenocarcinoma that was related to the breast cancer treated earlier. A solitary metastatic tumor arising solely in a trigeminal nerve is quite rare; this is the first report of such a case metastasized from breast cancer.
Nakano
I
I
Department of Neurosurgery, Kitano Medical Research Institute and Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
Iwasaki
K
K
Kondo
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D003390:Cranial Nerve Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000473:pathology*; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000473:pathology*