Malignant epidermoid cyst of the pineal region with lumbar metastasis

Neuropathology. 2007 Dec;27(6):566-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1789.2007.00820.x.

Abstract

This report describes a malignant neoplasia of the pineal region in a 65-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of intracranial hypertension and dissemination to CSF with radiologically documented lumbar intradural localizations. The histological examination of the lesion showed fragments of a cystic malignant neoplasia with epithelial elements resembling squamous cell carcinoma. We excluded the possibility of a cerebral metastasis from a squamous cell carcinoma arising in the genital or gastrointestinal tract, lung and skin. We propose this unique report for cyto- histological correlation and, as suggested in the American and Japanese literature, we discuss the hypothesis of the development of a squamous cell carcinoma arising from the malignant degeneration of a cerebral epidermoid cyst and we show by cytological examination of the CSF the exceptional presence of malignant cells and by lumbar MRI their intradural localizations.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / complications
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / secondary*
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / pathology*
  • Epidermal Cyst / pathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hydrocephalus / etiology
  • Intracranial Hypertension / etiology
  • Pinealoma / complications
  • Pinealoma / pathology*
  • Spinal Cord Neoplasms / complications
  • Spinal Cord Neoplasms / secondary*