Abstract

The confirmative diagnosis of leptomeningeal metastasis depends on detecting malignant cells on the cytologic examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The presence of leptomeningeal metastasis is a very important factor to determine the aggressiveness of treatment. We analyzed 273 cases that were diagnosed as malignancies on the CSF cytology. The most common metastatic carcinoma was lung cancer (76 cases, 27.8%). There were 49 cases (17.9%) and 40 cases (14.7%) of breast and stomach cancers, respectively. There were 49 cases (17.9%) of lymphoma and 40 cases (14.7%) of leukemia. There were 19 cases of other types of cancer (6.9%). For the cases of primary lung cancer, there were 60 cases (78.9%) of adenocarcinoma and 7 cases (9.2%) of squamous cell carcinoma, but only 4 cases (5.3%) of small cell carcinoma. For the case of breast cancer, all of those were invasive ductal carcinoma and 25 cases (51.0%) were grade 3. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common type of all metastatic lymphomas (22 cases, 44.9%) and lymphoblastic lymphoma was the second most common (8 cases, 16.3%). In our hospital, the most common leptomeningeal metastasis was adenocarcinoma of the lung, and breast cancer and lymphoma were the second most common. On CSF cytology, malignancies that have a tendency towards CSF metastasis should be carefully examined for to select the proper treatment.

• Keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid;Meoplasm metastasis;Leptomeningeal neoplasm;