BACKGROUND: Symptomatic brain metastases from prostatic carcinoma are rare (0.05% to 0.5%). CASE REPORT: A 70-year-old man presented with a homonymous hemianopsia due to brain metastatic prostatic carcinoma shortly before becoming symptomatic of prostatic disease. CT and MRI of the brain showed a tumour deep in the right hemisphere near the thalamus and involving the optic radiation. RESULTS: Routine haematological and biochemical tests were normal. The prostate specific antigen level was low on two separate occasions. The prostatic and brain tumours showed identical appearances, namely of a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (small cell carcinoma). CONCLUSION: A literature review suggests that small cell carcinoma of the prostate is more likely to spread to the brain compared to adenocarcinoma and that brain metastases indicate a poor prognosis. The prostate gland should be remembered as a possible cause of brain metastases and that a normal serum prostate specific antigen does not exclude this diagnosis.
BACKGROUND: Symptomatic brain metastases from prostatic carcinoma are rare (0.05% to 0.5%). CASE REPORT: A 70-year-old man presented with a homonymous hemianopsia due to brain metastatic prostatic carcinoma shortly before becoming symptomatic of prostatic disease. CT and MRI of the brain showed a tumour deep in the right hemisphere near the thalamus and involving the optic radiation. RESULTS: Routine haematological and biochemical tests were normal. The prostate specific antigen level was low on two separate occasions. The prostatic and brain tumours showed identical appearances, namely of a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (small cell carcinoma). CONCLUSION: A literature review suggests that small cell carcinoma of the prostate is more likely to spread to the brain compared to adenocarcinoma and that brain metastases indicate a poor prognosis. The prostate gland should be remembered as a possible cause of brain metastases and that a normal serum prostate specific antigen does not exclude this diagnosis.
Authors: Timothy L Sita; Katarina G Petras; Q Eileen Wafford; Mark A Berendsen; Tim J Kruser Journal: J Neurooncol Date: 2017-05-25 Impact factor: 4.130
Authors: Colin C Collins; Stanislav V Volik; Anna V Lapuk; Yuwei Wang; Peter W Gout; Chunxiao Wu; Hui Xue; Hongwei Cheng; Anne Haegert; Robert H Bell; Sonal Brahmbhatt; Shawn Anderson; Ladan Fazli; Antonio Hurtado-Coll; Mark A Rubin; Francesca Demichelis; Himisha Beltran; Martin Hirst; Marco Marra; Christopher A Maher; Arul M Chinnaiyan; Martin Gleave; Joseph R Bertino; Martin Lubin; Yuzhuo Wang Journal: Mol Cancer Ther Date: 2012-01-17 Impact factor: 6.261
Authors: Thomas Flannery; Hideyuki Kano; Ajay Niranjan; Edward A Monaco; John C Flickinger; L Dade Lunsford; Douglas Kondziolka Journal: J Neurooncol Date: 2009-07-17 Impact factor: 4.130