Sacral ependymoma presents 20 years after initial posterior fossa lesion

BMJ Case Rep. 2023 Oct 19;16(10):e256611. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2023-256611.

Abstract

Posterior fossa ependymomas (PFEs) are designated histologically as low-grade neoplasms. Despite being characterised as benign, cases of metastasis have been reported only a few times with the patients concurrently diagnosed with the primary tumour. Interval drop metastasis or spontaneous second distal tumours are extremely rare and, in most cases, are diagnosed within a few months of primary tumour resection. Here, we report a patient with a grade 2 paediatric PFE exhibiting a 20-year interval to a second sacral ependymoma. The patient was initially diagnosed with a PFE at the age of 10 years and underwent tumour resection and postoperative radiotherapy. In their late 20s, the patient presented with basilar artery occlusion complicated by life-threatening epistaxis. Post-thrombolysis, the patient presented with a large sacral grade 1 myxopapillary ependymoma with cauda equina syndrome-like symptoms. Here, we present a rare case of two ependymomas with a 20-year interval in the same patient with compounding comorbidities.

Keywords: Cancer intervention; Neurooncology; Radiology; Stroke.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Ependymoma* / diagnosis
  • Ependymoma* / pathology
  • Ependymoma* / surgery
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / surgery
  • Spinal Cord Neoplasms* / complications