Abstract:

Leptomeningeal involvement in diffuse intrinsic brain stem gliomas is rarely diagnosed clinically and in majority of the instances diagnosed only on postmortem examination. We report two cases of diffuse pontine glioma diagnosed clinicoradiologically and treated with conventional radiotherapy.

On follow-up, both patients showed clinical features suggestive of meningeal spread although imaging for pontine tumor showed stable disease. Leptomeningeal disease in the spine was confirmed on imaging and in one case by cerebrospinal fluid examination also. During the follow-up of patients with pontine glioma, the possibility of leptomeningeal involvement must be borne in mind.

Keywords: Brain stem glioma; Patterns of failure; Leptomeningeal spread

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1007/s00381-006-0168-6

Affiliations: 1: Email: rjalali@medscape.com