Pulmonary metastases from intracranial meningioma diagnosed by aspiration biopsy cytology.

A case of rare extracranial metastasis from a recurrent intracranial meningioma is described. Incidentally discovered asymptomatic pulmonary metastases were diagnosed as meningioma by transthoracic fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. The aspirate contained spindle-shaped tumor cells and other forms that seemed to correspond to the fibroblastic, syncytial and angioblastic areas seen in the histologic sections of the primary tumor. Cytomorphologically, metastatic meningioma appears to be sufficiently distinctive to permit its cytologic differentiation from other spindle-cell tumors. Although meningiomas metastasize rarely, this diagnosis should be considered in the interpretation of a transthoracic FNA biopsy of a pulmonary nodule or nodules in a patient with a history of recurrent intracranial meningioma, especially when the aspirate mainly consists of spindle-shaped neoplastic cells.