A Miniature Pinscher developed acute blindness and behavioral changes. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there were multiple small intra-axial cystic lesions, and primary differential diagnoses included primary or metastatic neoplasia and neurocysticercosis. These cystic lesions were subsequently diagnosed histopathologically as disseminated choroid plexus carcinoma. This is only the second documented description of this diagnosis in a dog, but both patients had very similar MRI findings. This patient adds to the literature about the MRI characteristics of choroid plexus tumors and indicates that choroid plexus tumor should be considered as a possible cause of small multifocal intra-axial cystic brain lesions in dogs, regardless of whether a primary intraventricular lesion is visible.
Abstract
Two siblings in a family without a history of phacomatosis or cerebral tumors developed malignant tumors in the posterior fossa at age 28 months and in the left cerebral hemisphere at age 15 months, respectively. Dual ependymal and choroid plexus epithelium differentiation was established by histological, ultrastructural, and immunocytochemical studies. The development of this rare tumor in siblings suggests an inherited predisposition, a common environmental insult, or both.
Choroid plexus tumors (CPTs) are relatively uncommon tumors of the central nervous system, constituting approximately 5% of all pediatric brain tumors. Although squash cytology of CPT has been described in literature, shedding of tumor cells into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has rarely been described. We report two such cases of atypical choroid plexus papilloma in a 5-month-old male child and a 12-year-old female child, where characteristic cytomorphology of CPT was noted in the CSF.
Canine Choroid Plexus Tumor with Intracranial Dissemination Presenting as Multiple Cystic Lesions
