Leptomeningeal metastasis from solid tumors: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.
Neurol Sci
; 36(1): 117-23, 2015 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25022241
ABSTRACT
Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) is a severe complication in the natural history of malignancies that occurs in 4-15 % of patients (pts) with solid tumors. Clinical presentation, cerebrospinal fluid cytology (CSF), and gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging (gdMRI) of the brain and spine are the methods routinely used to diagnose LM. Treatment encompasses involved-field radiotherapy of bulky or symptomatic disease sites and chemotherapy; however, no standard therapy has been established yet. We collected and reviewed retrospectively the clinical, pathological, radiological findings as well as the outcomes of 50 consecutive patients with LM from solid tumors to determine whether the diagnostic modalities and therapeutic procedures affected the outcomes. The results of this study confirm the role of gdMRI in the diagnosis of LM in clinical practice and suggest that an aggressive treatment may improve survival in patients with this debilitating and increasingly frequent neurological complication.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Meningeal Neoplasms
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Neurol Sci
Journal subject:
NEUROLOGIA
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy
Publication country:
IT
/
ITALIA
/
ITALY
/
ITÁLIA