PRIMARY DIFFUSE LEPTOMENINGEAL OLIGODENDROGLIOMA - CASE-REPORT

The authors describe a case of a diffuse primary leptomeningeal oligod endroglioma in a 17-year-old girl who presented with raised intracrani al pressure and hydrocephalus. She underwent imaging studies and a lef t frontotemporal craniotomy that revealed a cystic oligodendroglioma i n the suprasellar cistern and spread of neoplastic cells to the spinal leptomeninges. The tumor showed little response to maximum radiothera py and chemotherapy, and the patient died from complications of high-d ose chemotherapy 2 years after diagnosis. Postmortem examination of th e brain and spinal cord revealed diffuse meningeal infiltration by neo plastic cells and no evidence of an intraparenchymal origin. Glial het erotopias were noted at several sites along the brain base, adding cir cumstantial support to the theory that leptomeningeal gliomas are deri ved from ectopic glial tissue in the subarachnoid space.