Can you survive Leptomeningeal disease?

What to expect with leptomeningeal disease? This disease has a very low survival rate. With treatment, survival is about 3 to 6 months. Without treatment, survival is 4 to 6 weeks.

Is Leptomeningeal cancer rare?

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) is a rare complication of cancer in which the disease spreads to the membranes (meninges) surrounding the brain and spinal cord. LC occurs in approximately 5% of people with cancer and is usually terminal.

Is Leptomeningeal a cancer?

Leptomeningeal disease occurs when cancer cells migrate from your breast, lung, or some other part of your body to your cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This liquid circulates nutrients and chemicals to the brain and spinal cord.

How long can you live with leptomeningeal metastases?

Leptomeningeal metastases from solid tumors confer a poor overall prognosis. Mean survival from the time of diagnosis is 2 to 4 months. However, subsets of patients, specifically those with lymphoma and breast cancer, may survive for more than 1 year with a reasonably good quality of life.

What happens when you have Leptomeningeal disease?

Leptomeningeal disease may also be referred to as carcinomatous meningitis or neoplastic meningitis. Most often with this complication, people have multiple neurological symptoms including visual changes, speech problems, weakness or numbness of one side of the body, loss of balance, confusion, or seizures.

What does Leptomeningeal mean?

Leptomeningeal: Having to do with the leptomeninges, the two innermost layers of tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord. Leptomeningeal metastasis refers to cancer that has spread from the original (primary) tumor to the leptomeninges.

What happens when you have leptomeningeal disease?

Can Leptomeningeal be benign?

Although rare, local recurrence or leptomeningeal spread of meningeal melanocytoma secondary to malignant transformation has been reported years after the initial diagnosis (2-4). In a literature review, there was only one case report of a meningeal melanocytoma causing a diffuse benign leptomeningeal spread.

How common is leptomeningeal metastases?

Between 5 to 10 out of every 100 people (5 to 10%) who have cancer might develop leptomeningeal metastases. It is most common in people with breast or lung cancer, or melanoma skin cancer.