Multifocal primary central nervous system Ewing sarcoma presenting with intracranial hemorrhage and leptomeningeal dissemination: illustrative case

Anna L. Huguenard, Yuping Derek Li, Nima Sharifai, Stephanie Perkins, Sonika Dahiya, Michael Chicoine

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4 Scopus citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND Ewing sarcoma is a neoplasm within the family of small round blue cell tumors and most frequently arises from skeletal bone. Primary involvement of the central nervous system in these lesions is extremely rare, with an incidence of 1%. OBSERVATIONS A case is presented of a 34-year-old man who presented with left facial numbness, multiple intracranial lesions, a lumbar intradural lesion, and diffuse spinal leptomeningeal involvement. A lumbar laminectomy and biopsy were performed, which revealed the diagnosis of extraskeletal Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor. The patient had a rapidly progressive clinical decline despite total neuroaxis radiation and multiple lines of chemotherapeutic treatments, eventually dying from his disease and its sequelae 6 months after diagnosis. LESSONS The authors’ review of 40 cases in the literature revealed only 2 patients with isolated intraaxial cranial lesions, 4 patients with cranial and spine involvement, and an additional 34 patients with spine lesions. The unique characteristics of this patient’s case, including his presentation with diffuse disease and pathology that included a rare V600E BRAF mutation, are discussed in the context of the available literature.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberCASE2042
JournalJournal of Neurosurgery: Case Lessons
Volume1
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • BRAF
  • Ewing sarcoma
  • intracranial
  • oncology
  • spine

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