An incidental pulmonary meningioma revealing an intracranial meningioma: primary or secondary lesion?

Abstract

A 68-year-old man underwent a resection of the right middle lobe for a solitary lesion detected at computed tomography. The histologic result was suggestive for a pulmonary meningioma. Although the result of a preoperative brain computed tomography scan was negative, magnetic resonance imaging showed a skull-base meningioma. On the basis of the absence of symptoms, we decided to observe the intracranial meningioma. At 3 years of follow-up, the patient was free of recurrence and the cerebral lesion was stable. Primary pulmonary meningioma and benign meningioma metastasis share identical microscopic findings, and only a central nervous system radiologic study allows their distinction. The pulmonary lesion in our patient was classified as a meningioma metastasis.