CARCINOMATOUS METASTASES TO THE BRAIN

Discrete carcinomatous metastases in the extraocular muscles.

The orbit is a rare site for metastatic carcinoma (Duke-Elder, I952) and, although such orbital deposits may commonly involve muscle secondarily, discrete metastatic tumours in the extraocular muscles are extremely rare, as in muscle generally (Willis, I952, I953). A search of the literature has revealed four previous cases: two from carcinoma of the breast (Wintersteiner, I899; Bedford and Dan...

Carcinomatous meningitis: Leptomeningeal metastases in solid tumors

Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) results from metastatic spread of cancer to the leptomeninges, giving rise to central nervous system dysfunction. Breast cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma are the most frequent causes of LM among solid tumors in adults. An early diagnosis of LM, before fixed neurologic deficits are manifest, permits earlier and potentially more effective treatment, thus leading to...

Proximal myopathy due to discrete carcinomatous metastases in muscle.

Two patients are described with proximal muscle weakness and electromyographic evidence of a myopathic process. In both, discrete carcinomatous metastatic deposits were found in proximal muscles. The possible clinical implications are discussed.

Carcinomatous encephalitis (miliary metastases): lack of contrast enhancement.

Carcinomatous encephalitis is a rare form of brain metastasis in which there is diffuse miliary spread of punctate tumor nodules in a perivascular distribution. In this case, these tiny tumor nodules were seen throughout the cortical and basal gangliar gray matter only on T2-weighted images. Contrast-enhanced CT and T1-weighted MR images did not demonstrate these tumor nodules.

Subacute dementia as presenting feature of carcinomatous leptomeningeal metastases.