title: Intracranial leptomeningeal metastasis from thymic carcinoma: case report and review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thymic carcinoma is an uncommon malignant tumor of the anterior mediastinum. Meningeal metastasis from this type of neoplasm is extraordinarily rare and the prognosis is abysmal.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article presents the case of a 45-year-old man with known metastatic thymic carcinoma who presented with intractable headaches. An MRI scan was highly suggestive of a meningioma, and it was initially suspected that this patient had 2 primary tumors. Surgical resection of the mass both demonstrated a metastatic thymic lesion and ameliorated the patient's quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The authors report a case of intracranial meningeal metastasis from a lymphoepithelioma-like poorly differentiated metastatic thymic carcinoma, which was treated by resection and WBRT. A review of the current literature revealed no other cases of this uncommon alhistologic subtype of thymic carcinoma metastatic to the cranium. The incidence, histologic classification of subtypes, and treatment are discussed. This case also illustrates the importance of maintaining a high degree of suspicion for a metastasis in patients with known primary malignancy who present with an MRI highly suspicious for meningioma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-2035, USA. thompser@ohsu.edu
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Sather
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery