Lesser-known myelin-related disorders: focal tumour-like demyelinating lesions

Focal tumour-like demyelinating lesions are defined as solitary demyelinating lesions with a diameter greater than 2 cm. In imaging studies, these lesions may mimic a neoplasm or brain abscess; as a result, invasive diagnostic and therapeutic measures may be performed that will in some cases increase morbidity. Our aim was to analyse and characterise these lesions according to their clinical, radiological, and pathological characteristics, and this data in addition to our literature review will contribute to a better understanding of these lesions.

This descriptive study includes 5 cases with pathological diagnoses. We provide subject characteristics gathered through reviewing their clinical, radiology, and pathology reports.

Patients' ages ranged from 12 to 60 years; 3 patients were female. The time delay between symptom onset and hospital admission was 3 to 120 days. Clinical manifestations were diverse and dependent on the location of the lesion, pyramidal signs were found in 80% of patients, there were no clinical or radiological signs of spinal cord involvement, and follow-up times ranged from 1 to 15 years.

Brain biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of demyelinating tumour-like lesions; however, their clinical features, along with several magnetic resonance imaging features such as open ring enhancement, venular enhancement, the presence of glutamate in spectroscopy, and others, may be sufficient to differentiate neoplastic lesions from focal tumour-like demyelinating lesions.