Leptomeningeal metastasis from adult high-grade glioma: clinical analysis of 16 patients / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To further understand the clinical manifestations and improve clinical diagnosis of patients with leptomeningeal metastasizing high-grade glioma.Methods Sixteen patients with leptomeningeal metastasizing high-grade glioma (WHO classificationgrade Ⅲ-Ⅳ) in Department of Radiotherapy,the First Hospital of Jilin University from July 2010 to September 2015 were respectively analyzed.The pathological types included anaplastic gliomas (1),anaplastic oligodenastrocytoma (1),glioblastoma (12),small-cell glioblastoma (1),gliosarcoma (1).We reviewed the relative clinical manifestations of the patients,and further compared them with 163 patients with systemic malignant solid tumors at corresponding period.Results The median time from initial diagnosis to the diagnosis of leptomeningeal metastasis was 13.0 months (range 2-19 months).Plain and enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was obtained in all patients.The main radiographic characteristics included ependymal enhancement (11),leptomeningeal enhancement (3),nodules of implantation metastasis in spinal canal (1),cranial nerve enhancement (2),and ventricular dilatation (1).Eight patients received cerebrospinal fluid examination.The diagnosis of leptomeningeal metastasis in 15/16 patients was determined by radiographic findings.Comparing with leptomeningeal metastasis from systemic malignant tumors at the corresponding period,the incidence of headache in patients with high-grade glioma was significantly lower (6/16 vs 81.6％ (133/163);x2 =16.3,P ＜ 0.01);and the incidence of cranial nerve paralysis was also significantly lower (4/16 vs 56.4％ (92/163);x2 =5.79,P =0.016 1).The incidence of nerve root symptoms was lower than that of systemic malignant tumors,though without statistically significant difference (2/16 vs 26.4％ (43/163);x2 =1.49,P=0.222).Nine patients respectively received chemotherapy,intrathecal chemotherapy or intrathecal chemotherapy combined with whole brain radiotherapy.The median survival tine was 4.5 months (range 0.7-13.3 months).Conclusions The imaging examination played an important role in the diagnosis of high-grade leptomeningeal metastasizing glioma.Comparing with the systemic malignant solid tumors,the leptomeningeal metastasizing high-grade glioma had its unique clinical characteristics.