Metastatic breast carcinoma mimicking basal skull meningioma

Gregory W Schmidt, Neil R Miller

From the Neuro-Ophthalmology Unit, The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Abstract: Two women with breast carcinoma developed clinical evidence of a sphenocavernous syndrome with magnetic resonance (MRI) that suggested a basal skull meningioma but in whom biopsy of the lesion revealed metastatic breast carcinoma. The difficulties in distinguishing between the two lesions on the basis of standard MRI are discussed, as are newer imaging techniques that may reduce or eliminate these problems.

Keywords: meningioma, metastatic carcinoma, MRI, sphenocavernous syndrome, skull base tumor