Diagnosis of malignant meningitis

Parkinson’s Syndrome After Cranial Radiotherapy: A Case Report

Parkinson’s syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms where the core issue is bradykinesia and could be a manifestation of idiopathic parkinsonism (Parkinson's disease, PD), secondary parkinsonism, or parkinsonism due to neurodegenerative disease. PD is the most common cause of Parkinson's syndrome, accounting for approximately 80% of cases. The secondary causes of Parkinson's syndrome include tumors, trauma, hydrocephalus, chemotherapy, medications including amphotericin B, metoclopramide, and radiation treatment. Parkinsonian symptoms secondary to radiation treatment are rarely reported in the literature and are usually not alleviated by carbidopa-levodopa. This report describes a 64-year-old man diagnosed with low-grade astrocytoma of the midbrain who developed unilateral parkinsonian symptoms one year after chemoradiation treatment. This case report also sheds further light on the details of reported cases and the treatment options through an extensive literature review. Clinicians need to be aware of patients developing this rare complication following radiation treatment.

Diagnostic value of immunocytochemistry in leptomeningeal tumor dissemination

Differentiating chronic aseptic meningitis from leptomeningeal carcinomatosis or gliomatosis can be difficult, particularly when the differentiation is based solely on routine cytologic examination. The diagnosis of cerebrospinal fluid tumor dissemination in at-risk patients requires cytologic examination of cerebrospinal fluid and radiography of the leptomeninges. Routine cytologic examination alone has proven less than desirable, in most instances providing confirmation in as little as 50% of cases in the first lumbar puncture. This percentage increases to 85% to 90% after multiple lumbar punctures. We retrospectively reviewed 2 cases of leptomeningeal dissemination (one gliomatosis, the other carcinomatosis) with initial false-negative test results. However, after further examination of the cerebrospinal fluid by selected battery of immunocytochemical stains, both cases were identified as positive for malignancy (ie, false negatives). Immunocytochemistry can be useful in distinguishing chronic aseptic meningitis from leptomeningeal carcinomatosis or gliomatosis in patients at risk or when abnormal cells are seen on routine cerebrospinal fluid cytologic examination.