Metastases to the spine resulting in spinal neuropathy occur commonly _ The vast majority involve the vertebrae and the epidural spaces. Intradural metastases, either extraor intra-medullary arising from a primary lesion outside of the central nervous system are seldom encountered. Another rare form of metastatic disease to the spinal central nervous system is leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. Thi...

Inroduction: Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) is an infrequent and devastating complication of systemic malignancy. Although it occurs in 5 – 20% of patients with metastatic cancer, its association with papillary renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is extremely rare. To the best of our knowledge, there are only 3 published case reports of leptomeningeal metastasis occurring in patients with papillary...

A 70-year-old female presented to the emergency department with a 3-day history of intermittent dysphasia and right facial droop. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were obtained, and the patient was found to have meningeal carcinomatosis, also known as leptomeningeal metastases. Meningeal carcinomatosis is a rare metastatic complication of some solid tumors and hemat...

A case is reported of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis in which identification of mucus-secreting 'signet-ring' carcinoma cells in the CSF allowed diagnosis of an otherwise asymptomatic gastric cancer. When lumbar puncture is performed, careful cytological examination of the CSF should be carried out in any undiagnosed patient with neurological symptoms and signs.

Primary central nervous system (CNS) teratomas are rare tumors that consist of all three germ cell layers. We describe a young man with a primary malignant CNS teratocarcinoma presenting as leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. Diagnosis of primary CNS teratocarcinomas is challenging; relentless pursuit of the diagnosis must follow even if early ancillary studies are inconclusive.