Introduction: Prostatic adenocarcinomas have a marked tendency to spread to lymph nodes and bones, with occasional internal organ metastases. Brain metastases from prostatic carcinomas are rare.
Case report: We report the case of a patient with haemorrhagic brain metastasis from prostatic adenocarcinoma, which was initially considered to be a parenchymatous brain haemorrhage. The possible ways by which it can spread, the difficulty involved in interpreting the images and the role played by a biopsy with immunostaining in reaching a final diagnosis are also discussed.
Conclusions: Perhaps the most significant aspect of this case was the 13 year period that elapsed between diagnosis of the primary tumour and brain metastasis, the absence of spreading to lymph nodes and the localised, intrapelvic, aspect of the bone lesion that was detected.