Vol.102 No.9 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 102 No. 9 September 2009
A Case of Meningeal Carcinomatosis Presented with Unilateral Facial Nerve Palsy
Masaaki Higashino and Michiro Kawakami
(Osaka National Hospital)
Keiko Hasegawa and Kanako Ito
(Osaka Medicdal College)
Akihito Mineharu
(Hirakata City Hospital)
We report the case of a 53-year-old woman with meningeal carcinomatosis who presented with a unilateral facial nerve palsy. The patient had been followed with malignant lymphoma at the department of blood internal medicine of our hospital. We treated as Bell's palsy, and carried out steroid treatment. But 1 week later, swallowing disorder and diplopia appeared, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that abnormal enhancement of the cerebral pia mater. Finally she was diagnosed as meningeal carcinomatosis by cerebrospinal fluid cytology. Consideration of the possibility of meningeal carcinomatiosis is necessary when diagnosing facial palsy in a patient with a history of malignant tumor.
Key words :meningeal carcinomatosis, facial nerve palsy, swallowing disorder