UNUSUAL DURAL AND SKULL-BASED MESENCHYMAL NEOPLASMS - A REPORT OF 4 CASES

Dural and skull-base mesenchymal neoplasms other than meningiomas are rare. We report four such tumors, some of which are uncommon even in n onintracranial sites, in three adults and one child. The adult tumors consisted of a synovial sarcoma of the third ventricle region in a 19- year-old woman, a leiomyoma of the suprasellar region in a 57-year-old woman, and an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated smooth muscle tumor of the cavernous sinus in a 35-year-old woman with acquired immunodef iciency syndrome (AIDS). The pediatric tumor was an EBV-associated lei omyosarcoma of the left dural transverse sinus in a 14-year-old girl w ith common variable immunodeficiency syndrome. All tumors were thought to be primary in their dural or skull-base locations. The two EBV-ass ociated smooth muscle tumors in immunocompromised patients expand the locations for EBV-associated smooth muscle tumors to dural and skull-b ase sites, the synovial sarcoma is unique to the intracranial space, a nd the sellar leiomyoma represents the third reported sellar smooth mu scle tumor. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.