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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Meningeal Carcinomatosis in Advanced Extramammary Paget’s Disease: A Case Report
Ayano WATANABE, Masazumi ONISHI, Kanako TSUNODA and Hiroo AMANO*
Department of Dermatology, Iwate Medical University, Uchimaru 19-1, Morioka 020-8505, Japan. *E-mail: [email protected] and
[email protected]
Accepted Apr 30, 2019; E-published May 2, 2019
Extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD) is a rare in
traepithelial malignant tumour that arises mostly in the
epidermis of areas where apocrine glands are distributed,
i.e. mainly in the anogenital and axillary skin. In general,
the prognosis of EMPD is good when the tumour cells
are limited to the epidermis, but poor when they invade
the dermis and metastasize to lymph nodes or other
organs. Nodal metastasis is reportedly one of the most
important prognostic factors in EMPD (1). On the other
hand, brain metastasis from EMPD is very rare, and
there have been no reports of meningeal carcinomatosis
(MC) from EMPD.
We report here a rare case of MC in advanced EMPD
due to bone metastasis and discuss the features of brain
metastasis from EMPD. If cognitive impairment and
dementia-like disorientation occur suddenly, MC and
brain metastasis should be suspected, and magnetic reso
nance imaging (MRI) examination should be conducted.
CASE REPORT
Fig. 1. (A) Physical examination of the Extramammary Paget’s disease
(EMPD) lesion on both labia majora with indurated erythema and an ulcerative
tumour on the right labium majorum. (B) Paget cells had infiltrated the
epidermis and dermis, and the tumour cells also invaded the lymph vessels
(haematoxylin-eosin (HE), original magnification ×200).
Cytopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of MC
from EMPD (Fig. 3). Disturbance of consciousness gradually
progressed, and the patient died approximately one month after
diagnosis of MC.
DISCUSSION
A 65-year-old woman visited our hospital because of genital blee
EMPD is a malignant neoplasm arising from apocrine
ding and bilateral leg oedema. She had a medical history of spinal
column stenosis and appendicitis. Physical examination revealed
sweat glands, such as those in the anogenital and axillary
indurated erythema on both labia majora, accompanied by an
regions. The most common pattern of EMPD metastatic
ulcerative tumour on the right labium majorum (Fig. 1A). Right
spread is via the lymphatic system or intra-epithelial
inguinal lymph node enlargement was evident, and a skin biopsy
infiltration. The prognosis of EMPD is favourable if
of the tumour yielded a diagnosis of EMPD. Positron emission
diagnosis and treatment are started early, but poor if
tomography (PET) demonstrated 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)
uptake in multiple lymph nodes and sagittal T2-weighted MRI
distant metastases are present. Nodal metastasis is re
revealed high signal intensity in the L4 vertebral bone (Fig 2A).
portedly one of the most important prognostic factors
The genital tumour was resected palliatively. Histopathological
in EMPD (1). To our knowledge, only a few cases of
examination demonstrated that Paget cells had proliferated in the
EMPD with brain metastases have been reported (2, 3),
epidermis and dermis, and had also invaded lymph vessels (Fig.
and meningeal carcinomatosis (MC) from EMPD has
1B). Docetaxel monotherapy was administered monthly at a dose
of 60 mg/m 2 . After 3 cycles, the nodal disease disappeared on
not been documented previously.
PET images and the high signal intensity in
the L4 vertebral bone was reduced. After 5
cycles, gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted
MRI revealed multiple small spots in the
brain, suggesting metastases of EMPD to
the central nervous system (CNS) (Fig.
2B). We performed 30 Gy of cranial ir
radiation in 10 fractions. This reduced the
brain metastases, but the patient developed
nausea, vomiting and gait disturbance, fol
lowed gradually by memory impairment and
trunk dystonia. Gadolinium-enhanced T1-
weighted MRI demonstrated enhancement
along the cerebellar sulcus of the brain (Fig.
2C). For diagnosis, lumbar puncture was
Fig. 2. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image. (A) Sagittal T2-weighted MRI revealed an
performed, and analysis of the cerebrospinal
axial bone metastasis in the L4 vertebra. (B) Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MRI revealed
fluid (CSF) revealed an increased WBC
multiple metastatic lesions in the brain. (C) Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MRI revealed
count and an elevated CSF protein level.
enhancement along the cerebellar sulcus of the brain.
doi: 10.2340/00015555-3211
Acta Derm Venereol 2019; 99: 826–827
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. www.medicaljournals.se/acta
Journal Compilation © 2019 Acta Dermato-Venereologica.