Papillary meningioma with multifocal leptomeningeal spread in a dog

Abstract

An 11-year-old, English cocker spaniel was presented with subacute progressive signs of vestibular ataxia, tetraparesis, left-sided proprioceptive deficits, positional ventrolateral strabismus of the right eye and a right-sided menace deficit. Magnetic resonance imaging of the cranium and cranial cervical spinal cord revealed multifocal T2 hyper-/T1-hypointense intradural lesions with dural tail signs and intra-axial and intramedullary extension. Medical treatment resulted in initial improvement before deterioration was noticed. Cytological examination results of computed tomography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the C1–C2 lesion were consistent with mesenchymal neoplasia. Three days later, after progressive clinical deterioration, euthanasia was performed. Postmortem examination and subsequent histological examination of the brainstem and spinal cord revealed multifocal, strongly infiltrative growth of neoplastic cells with areas of pseudo-rosette formation by cylindrical neoplastic cells with moderately large, oval nuclei in addition to areas of spindle-shaped neoplastic cells with meningothelial whorls. The final diagnosis was a papillary (grade III) meningioma with multifocal leptomeningeal spread.