Brain Pathology Case of the Month - March 2000


FINAL DIAGNOSIS:   LYMPHOPLASMACYTE-RICH MENINGIOMA

DISCUSSION:

This 43-year-old patient presented with partial seizures, which had generalized after 6 months by. The radiological appearance of the parietal, parasaggital, extra-axial tumor including the vascular supply from the external carotid artery system as seen on angiography, was indistinguishable from that associated with meningioma. The histological appearance of the surgically removed tumor was unusual. An extensive lymphoplasmacytic infiltration obscured the meningothelial component of the tumor, which required immunohistochemistry to rule out a lymphoproliferative process. Following the terminology of the WHO (6) we classified the tumor as a lymphoplasmacytic-rich meningioma, a rare meningioma variant (1, 5, 8,10). Given the follicular architecture of the lymphoid infiltrate we also considered the diagnosis of Castelman's disease, an uncommun lymphoproliferative disease (3) known also as angiofollicular lymphoid hyperplasia, which generally arises in the mediastinum but, of which a meningeal localization has been described (2,9). There is some evidence that this lesion can be associated with systemic inflammatory and/or autoimmune states (2). The immunohistochemical analysis enabled us to identify the meningothelial component of the tumor thus to exclude the diagnosis of Casteman's disease. In the differential diagnosis of lymphoplasmacyte-rich meningioma, one have to exclude other meningeal-based haematological conditions. This type of meningioma is frequently associated with systemic lymphoproliferative diseases, and with an immuncompromised state (2, 6, 7). An association between lymphoplasmacyte-rich meningioma and a systemic hypergammaglobulinemia was observed by several authors (4, 5). A correlation between the rise and fall of hypergammaglobulinemia and the removal and regrowth of the lymphoplasmacyte-rich meningioma in the case of a 14-year-old boy was documented by Gi et al., (4). The biological behavior of these meningiomas seems to depend on the meningioma component but, as the lesion may be associated with haematological abnormalities, a close postoperative follow-up of patients with this type of meningioma is needed.

REFERENCES

  1. Bannerje AK, Blackwood W (1971) A subfrontal tumour with the features of plasmocytoma and meningioma. Acta Neuropathol 18: 84-88
  2. Gianaris PG. Leestma JE. Cerullo LJ. Butler A. (1989) Castleman's disease manifesting in the central nervous system: case report with immunological studies. Neurosurgery 24: 608-613
  3. Castelman B, Iverson L, Menendez P: (1956) Localized mediastinal lymph-node hyperplasia resembling thymomya. Cancer 9: 822-830
  4. Gi H. Nagao S. Yoshizumi H. Nishioka T. Uno J. Shingu T. Fujita Y. (1990) Meningioma with hypergammaglobulinemia. Case report. J Neurosurg. 73:628-629
  5. Horten BC. Urich H. Stefoski D. (1979) Meningiomas with conspicuous plasma cell-lymphocytic components: a report of five cases. Cancer. 43:258-264.
  6. Kleihues P, Burger PC, Scheithauer BW (1993) Histological Typing of Tumors of the Central Nervous System, 2nd edition Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Budapest
  7. Kleihues P, Cavanee WK (1997) Pathology and genetics of tumors of the nervous system, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) WHO, Lyon.
  8. Ohmori T. Tabei R. Fukui K. Sadamoto K. Sakaki S. (1989) Uncommon type of meningiomas with conspicuous plasmo-lymphocytic infiltration. An immunohistochemical and histochemical study. Acta Pathol Jap 39:190-194.
  9. Severson GS, Harrington DS, Weisenburger DD, McComb RD, Casey JH, Gelber BR, Varet B, Abelanet R, Rappaport HH (1988) Castelman's disease of the leptomeninges Report of three cases. J Neurosurg 69: 283-286
  10. Yamaki T. Ikeda T. Sakamoto Y. Ohtaki M. Hashi K. (1997) Lymphoplasmacyte-rich meningioma with clinical resemblance to inflammatory pseudotumor. Report of two cases. J Neurosurg 86:898-904, 1997 May.

Contributed by Judit Miklossy MD, Zsolt Kopniczky MD, Antoine Uske MD, Françoise Delacrétaz MD, Pascal Chaubert MD, François Porchet MD


International Society of Neuropathology