Posterior fossa ependymoma with intense but transient disseminated enhancement but not metastasis.
We report a pediatric patient with a posterior fossa ependymoma in whom the second of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans obtained preoperatively within a 10-day span showed intense but transient disseminated enhancement. However, following posterior fossa craniotomy for near total tumor resection, neither three MRI exams nor two craniospinal fluid samplings revealed evidence of disseminated disease. Concerned that the one MRI with disseminated enhancement indicated an elevated risk of leptomeningeal metastasis, we initiated craniospinal irradiation. However, we terminated this treatment after realizing that the bulk of the clinical evidence refuted the diagnosis of metastatic disease.
Butler
William E
WE
Neurosurgical Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02114, USA. wbutler@partners.org
Khan
Asad
A
Khan
Saad A
SA
D002648:Child; D004806:Ependymoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015192:Infratentorial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness