Periocular extracranial cutaneous meningiomas in two dogs

Cutaneous meningiomas are rare tumors in human beings and animals. Two canine cases of cutaneous meningiomas affecting the eyelid are described in the current study: the first from a 5-week-old female Springer Spaniel dog with an 8 cm in diameter congenital mass expanding the left upper eyelid and medial canthus; the second from a 10-year-old female spayed Maltese-Poodle mix dog with 3 firm subcutaneous nodules affecting the right upper eyelid. All masses were removed surgically. Histologically, tumors were composed of spindle-to-epithelioid cells arranged in small lobules forming solid concentric whorls. Neoplastic cells were positive for vimentin and S100 and negative for pancytokeratin, glial fibrillar acid protein, and neurofilament. Transmission electron microscopy revealed meningothelial cells with convoluted interdigitating processes, desmosomes, and hemidesmosomes, and moderate numbers of cytoplasmic microfilaments. None of the cases presented a primary neuroaxial meningioma. The first case presents clinicopathological features consistent with human type I (congenital) cutaneous meningioma. The second case is consistent with a type II (acquired ectopic) tumor, and both are hypothesized to arise from ectopic arachnoid cells displaced during development.