McClelland Shearwood, Garcia Rebeca E, Monaco Sara E, Goldman James E, Olson Ty J, Kim Grace H, Petrylak Daniel P, Goodman Robert R
Department of Neurological Surgery, Neurological Institute of New York, New York, NY 10032, USA.
J Neurooncol. 2006 Jan;76(2):171-4. doi: 10.1007/s11060-005-4815-7.
Carcinomatous meningitis (CM) occurs in less than 10% of cancer patients. Although patients frequently present with a focal complaint, multifocal signs are often found following careful neurological examination. The gold standard for diagnosis remains the demonstration of neoplastic cells in the cerebrospinal fluid. Despite the discouraging prognosis, palliative treatment may improve quality of life and lengthen lifespan. We report a patient with known primary carcinoma of the urachus who presented with headaches, nausea, vomiting and ataxia 1 week following resection of a nodular arachnoidal metastasis (indenting the cerebellum). Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid subsequently confirmed carcinomatous meningitis. This is the first reported case of carcinomatous meningitis resulting from metastatic urachal carcinoma.
