Malignant intracranial meningioma with spinal metastasis--case report

Lumbar clear cell meningioma mimicking schwannoma 7 years after resection of the same type of intracranial tumor: a case report

BACKGROUND

Meningioma is the second most common intradural extramedullary tumor, following schwannoma. Meningioma is primarily categorized as benign World Health Organization grade 1, but clear cell meningioma is grade 2 of the intermediate malignant category. Clear cell meningiomas are rare, accounting for less than 1% of all meningioma tumors. There is no previous report of multiple intraspinal clear cell meningiomas without dural attachment.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 27-year-old Asian male patient presented with lower right extremity pain, and had undergone tumor resection for intracranial clear cell meningioma 7 years previously, with re-resection and radiotherapy for local tumor recurrence at our hospital's department of neurosurgery being carried out 4 years previously. No recurrence was observed since then. Preoperative lumbar magnetic resonance imaging showed two tumors at the L1 and L4 levels, both mimicking schwannoma with well-defined margins, no dural tail sign and homogeneous internal contrast. Intraoperative findings on tumor resection showed two tumors contiguous with the right L2 and L5 roots, which were not attached to the dura mater, similar to a schwannoma. After gross total resection, the postoperative pathology revealed no nuclear SMARCE1 antibody staining. The patient was diagnosed with clear cell meningioma. The patient's postoperative course went well, with no symptoms of nerve dropout and no recurrence 2 years after surgery. In this case, both lumbar lesions were well demarcated and spherical in shape, occurring with single roots. Tumor characteristics suggested a primary rather than a metastatic lesion. Clear cell meningioma is characterized by a SMARCE1 mutation and is different from other types of meningiomas.

CONCLUSION

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of multiple intraspinal clear cell meningiomas without dural attachment at the lumbar spine after resection of intracranial clear cell meningioma. We speculate that the two tumors were de novo lesions on the basis of the features of the tumors, although they were detected 7 years after the resection of intracranial clear cell meningioma.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) Induced Higher-Grade Transformation of a Benign Meningioma into Atypical Meningioma

Background

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a widely used treatment modality for the management of meningioma. Whether used as a primary, adjuvant, or salvage procedure, SRS is a safe, less invasive, and effective modality of treatment as microsurgery. The transformation of a meningioma following radiosurgery raises a concern, and our current understanding about it is extremely limited. Only a few case reports have described meningioma dedifferentiation after SRS to a higher grade. Moreover, a relatively small number of cases have been reported in large retrospective studies with little elaboration. Case Description. We report a detailed case description of a 41-year-old man with progressive meningioma enlargement and rapid grade progression after SRS, which was histopathologically confirmed before and after SRS. We discussed the clinical presentation, radiological/histopathological features, and outcome. We also reviewed previous studies that reported the outcome and follow-up of patients diagnosed with grade I meningioma histopathologically or presumed with benign meningioma by radiological features who underwent primary or adjuvant radiosurgery.

Conclusion

The risk of progression after SRS is low, and the risk of higher-grade transformation after SRS is trivial. The early timing for recurrence and field-related radiation may favor a relationship between SRS and higher-grade transformation (causality) although transformation as a part of the natural history of the disease cannot be fully excluded. Tumor progression (treatment failure) after SRS may demonstrate a transformation, and careful, close, and long follow-up is highly recommended. Also, acknowledging that there is a low risk of early and delayed complications and a trivial risk of transformation should not preclude its use as SRS affords a high level of safety and efficiency.

Surgical management of de novo metastatic meningioma of the spine: An underestimated issue for WHO grade II/III meningiomas

OBJECTIVES

Meningioma is a slow-growing neoplasm derived from meningothelial cells. Extradural metastasis of WHO grade II/III meningiomas is relatively rare, and spinal metastatic meningiomas (SMM) have only been described in individual case reports. The aim of the present study is to discuss the clinical features and treatments of SMM patients.

METHODS

Fourteen SMM patients who received surgery in our center between 2010 and 2020 were reviewed retrospectively. Possible prognostic factors affecting local progression-free survival (LPFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by log-rank analysis.

RESULTS

Our series comprised nine men and five women, with a median age of 49 years. The interval from the primary treatment to SMM varied from 1 to 11 years. Lesions were mainly located in the lumbar-sacral region (7/14, 50.0%), followed by the thoracic spine (5/14, 35.7%) and cervical (2/14, 14.3%) spine. The median follow-up period was 42.7 months, during which six patients (42.9%) passed away. Local tumor progression was detected in four patients (28.6%). Log-rank analysis indicated that circumferential surgery was associated with good LPFS, whereas WHO grade III and visceral metastasis were factors adversely affecting OS.

CONCLUSIONS

SMM is a challenging clinical entity, usually occurring in the fourth to fifth decades of life. Circumferential surgery is associated with good LPFS. WHO grade III and visceral metastasis are factors adversely affecting OS of patients with SMM. Long-term follow-up is recommended for patients who have received surgical treatment for primary meningiomas (Simpson Grade III/IV), especially for WHO III lesions.

Intracranial meningioma with vertebral or intraspinal metastasis: report of 2 cases and review of the literature

Extracranial meningioma metastases (EMM) occur in 0.1% of intracranial meningioma patients and are more commonly seen in those with atypical and anaplastic histologies. While the lungs and pleura are the most common site of EMM, intraspinal and vertebral EMM also occur and are not well described in the literature. Although the presence of EMM can worsen prognosis, no standard of care has been established for EMM management.

All patients treated for recurrent atypical/anaplastic meningiomas between January 1985 and July 2014 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center were screened for intraspinal and vertebral EMM. Of these patients, 2 were identified as having recurrent meningioma complicated by vertebral or intraspinal EMM. A review of the literature was also conducted. The PubMed database was screened for intraspinal and vertebral EMM cases reported in the literature from 1985 to 2015. Nineteen articles were identified from the literature and included 24 individual cases with a total of 34 vertebral or intraspinal EMM. Forty-two percent (10/24) of patients with vertebral or intraspinal EMM had WHO Grade I tumors. Furthermore, 25% (6/24) of vertebral and intraspinal EMM occurred after the primary tumor but prior to any recurrence.

This paper highlights that vertebral and intraspinal EMM can occur in patients with WHO Grade I meningiomas and can occur before tumor recurrence. This challenges the notion that EMM are seen primarily in high-grade atypical and anaplastic meningiomas.

Minimally invasive resection and vertebroplasty for an osteolytic C-1 metastasis of malignant meningioma: case report

Malignant meningiomas are a rare but aggressive subset of intracranial meningiomas leading to a very limited life expectancy. The occurrence of spinal metastases in these tumors is an even rarer event. The described patient had an intracranial malignant meningioma and developed a symptomatic osteolytic contrast-enhancing lesion in the left C-1 lateral mass suspicious for metastasis. The authors performed a minimally invasive posterior resection of the lesion with vertebroplasty of C-1. Histopathology verified metastasis of the malignant meningioma. The surgical procedure resulted in prompt and permanent pain reduction until the patient died 18 months later. Given the very limited life expectancy in this case, the authors did not consider occipitocervical fusion because of their desire to preserve the range of motion of the head. Therefore, they suggest minimally invasive tumor resection and vertebroplasty in selected palliative tumor patients.

Intracranial meningioma with leptomeningeal dissemination : retrospective study with review of the literature

OBJECTIVE

The purposes of this article are to present 5 cases of intracranial meningioma with leptomeningeal dissemination (LD) and investigate the characteristics of this disease.

METHODS

We present a retrospective case series of 5 females at our institutions (age ranged 21-72 years, mean 54.6 years) diagnosed with LD of an intracranial meningioma after surgery between 1998 and 2013. A database search revealed 45 cases with LD of meningioma in the English literature. Characteristic features were analyzed and compared.

RESULTS

The incidence rate at our institutions of LD of meningioma was 0.9% (5/534). World Health Organization (WHO) grade was distributed as follows: I : 2, II : 2, and III : 1. Time to LD ranged from 2.5 months to 6.9 years; the patient with WHO grade III had the shortest interval to LD. The patient with an intraventricular meningioma (WHO grade II) had the second shortest interval to LD (1.7 years), and simultaneously revealed both LD and extraneuronal metastases. Four of 5 patients showed a disease progression, with the survival ranging from 1 month to 3.8 years after LD. Based on the literature, the initial tumor was an intraventricular meningioma in 9 patients, and their time to LD was shorter on average (mean 1.9 years). Histologically, 26 of 45 (58%) were initially diagnosed with a WHO grade II or III meningioma, and 6 of 19 patients (32%) with WHO grade I revealed malignant transformation.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that intraventricular location and histologically aggressive features seem to increase the chance of LD of meningioma.

A case of recurrent anaplastic meningioma of the skull base with radiologic response to hydroxyurea

Anaplastic meningiomas are rare and aggressive tumors with a high propensity for local recurrence. Surgical resection and postoperative radiotherapy are the standard of care for primary disease and local recurrences. Refractory disease is managed with chemotherapy with limited success. A highly efficacious, well-tolerated chemotherapeutic agent has yet to be found for this disease entity. Hydroxyurea is currently receiving renewed attention because of its efficacy in inducing apoptosis of meningioma cells in vitro and its favorable side-effect profile. Thus far, in humans, this agent has only induced stable disease.

We describe the first patient showing a near complete/partial clinical and radiological regression after 5 months of 25 mg/kg of hydroxyurea once daily, given within 1 month after stereotactic fractionated reirradiation of a previously irradiated and operated anaplastic meningioma of the skull base. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a significant and sustained response with tumor shrinkage and cavitation.

Metastatic meningioma: The role of whole‑body diffusion-weighted imaging

We report the case of a 74-year-old male patient with a completely resected anaplastic meningioma who developed multiple metastases two years later (subcutaneous tissue near the surgical area, cervical lymph nodes, lung, pleura and bones). The primary tumor and all of the metastases showed a significant restricted diffusion. Whole‑body diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed for assessment of the metastases. This case demonstrated the usefulness of this technique in screening extracranial metastases in patients with malignant meningiomas.