AI Article Synopsis

  • A 61-year-old woman with a history of breast cancer presented with 4 days of difficulty swallowing, accompanied by lack of appetite and weight loss over the past month.
  • Neuroimaging revealed abnormalities in several cranial nerves and the spinal cord, while cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed cancerous cells.
  • She was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis due to her breast cancer and began radiation therapy, antihormonal treatments, and intrathecal methotrexate.

Article Abstract

A 61-year-old woman presented to the emergency department, with a 4-day history of isolated oropharyngeal dysphagia associated with anorexia and weight loss over the previous 4 weeks. She had no other focal neurological symptoms and no deficits on examination. She had been in a 4-year remission of breast cancer postmastectomy and chemoradiation. Neuroimaging showed enhancement of cranial nerves VII, VIII, cisternal segment of cranial V, dorsal and ventral surfaces of the cervical and thoracic cord as well as enhancement of the cauda equina. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed carcinomatous cells. The patient was diagnosed as having leptomeningeal carcinomatosis secondary to lobular breast cancer and was started on radiation therapy, antihormonal treatments and intrathecal methotrexate.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4840762PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2016-214666DOI Listing

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