Carcinomatous encephalitis as clinical presentation of occult lung adenocarcinoma: case report.
Carcinomatous encephalitis is a rare entity, originally described by Madow and Alpers in 1951, which is characterized by tumoral spreading perivascular, without mass effect. Clinical manifestations such as hemiparesis, seizures, ataxia, speech difficulties, cerebrospinal fluid findings as well as computed tomography are nonspecific. This leads the physician to pursue more frequent diseases that could explain those manifestations--toxic, metabolic, and/or infectious encephalopathy. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium, the method of choice, presumes the diagnosis. Previous reports of this unusual form of metastatic disease have described patients with prior diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma. We present the case of carcinomatous encephalitis in a 76-year-old woman as the primary manifestation of occult pulmonary adenocarcinoma with its clinical, imaging, and anatomopathological findings.
Ribeiro
Henrique Barbosa
HB
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Santa Casa de São Paulo, Rua de Cesário Mota Jr. 112, 01221-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Paiva
Tadeu Ferreira de
TF
Mamprin
Gustavo Pignatari Rosas
GP
Gorzoni
Milton Luiz
ML
Rocha
Antônio José da
AJ
Lancellotti
Carmen Lucia Penteado
CL
D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D018267:Carcinoma, Acinar Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging