[Pontine stroke secondary to a foramen magnum meningioma].
BACKGROUND
Meningioma is one of the most frequent tumours affecting the central nervous system, with an estimated incidence of between 15 and 20% of all brain tumours. They are generally benign and slow growing. Their appearing as a cerebral infarction is very rare.


METHODS
A right-handed 75-year-old female patient with a personal history of arterial hypertension, who visited the Emergency Department because of the sudden onset of severe dysarthria, accompanied by loss of strength in the left limbs, supranuclear facial palsy on the left side and Horner syndrome on the right. A computerised tomography scan of the brain revealed a lacunar infarct in said location, with no other appreciable damage. The neurovascular study included a transcranial Doppler, which was unable to insonate the left vertebral artery or the basilar artery. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head revealed a foramen magnum meningioma, with vertebrobasilar vascular distortion. The patient progressed favourably and was submitted to radiosurgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The case reported here is unique, since it describes a meningioma of the posterior fossa that appears in the form of the initial symptoms of a pontine stroke due to a vascular disorder.
Manzano-Palomo
M S
MS
Unidad de Patología Cerebrovascular, Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.
Egido
J A
JA
D000368:Aged; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000209:etiology*; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005539:Foramen Magnum; D006732:Horner Syndrome / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D008579:Meningioma / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D011149:Pons / Q000098:blood supply*; D016634:Radiosurgery; D012074:Remission Induction; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology