Nivolumab as adjuvant treatment for a spinal melanocytoma: A case report.

RATIONALE: Meningeal melanocytoma is a rare benign melanocytic tumor of the central nervous system. We report for the first time a case of meningeal melanocytoma treated with immunotherapy. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 70-year-old man with no medical history was admitted to the Emergency Room. He suffered from a motor and sensory deficit in his left lower limb and a bilateral upper arm neuralgia. DIAGNOSES: A contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed. It showed a C7-T1 bleeding intramedullary tumor. Laminectomy was decided and performed. The results of the pathologic examination showed a melanocytic tumor harboring GNAQ mutation. Meningeal melanocytoma was the final diagnosis. INTERVENTIONS: The patient was treated with 10 radiotherapy sessions and 6 cycles of nivolumab. A year later, the patient experienced neuralgia again with severe pain and an increasing sensory motor deficit. He underwent a second surgery that was incomplete. As the tumor kept growing, he received temozolomide. But the 6th cycle had to be interrupted due to bedsore infection in the hip area. OUTCOMES: Disease progression finally led to the patient's death 3 years after diagnosis. LESSONS: This case report is the first about a patient with meningeal melanocytoma treated with immunotherapy. Treatment based on biomolecular mutations will probably change spinal melanocytoma therapeutic approach in the next few years.

Paraneoplastic subacute sensory neuropathy with triple positive antineuronal antibodies associated with small-cell lung cancer.

A 67-year-old woman with a history of smoking and cardiovascular risk factors was admitted to the emergency room for uncontrolled diabetes, loss of appetite, nausea, significant weight loss and asthenia. The initial investigation, including cerebral and gastrointestinal explorations, were normal. One month later, she started presenting severe asymmetric proprioceptive ataxia of the lower extremities. She also reported paresthesia and neuropathic pain in both feet and ankles. A positron emission tomography (PET)-scanner showed a hypermetabolic nodule in the right lung. The neurological symptoms were attributed to paraneoplastic sensory and dysautonomic neuropathy, even though the bronchoscopic biopsies came back negative at first. Anti-Hu, anti-CV2/CRMP5 and anti-SOX1 antibodies were documented. Due to the severity and rapid progression of symptoms (from the lower to the upper limbs), corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulins and immunosuppressants were introduced prior to biopsies revealing a small-cell lung cancer. Despite these treatments and antineoplastic chemotherapy, her status deteriorated rapidly.