Leptomeningeal metastasis from early glottic laryngeal cancer: A case report

The present study reports the case of a 53-year-old man with leptomeningeal metastasis from early glottic laryngeal cancer. The patient had been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx 9 years previously. The current symptoms included a recurring headache that had persisted for 1 month and vomiting for 1 week. A magnetic resonance imaging scan of the head revealed multiple enhancing lesions in the brain and multiple line-like enhancements in the brain fold. Computed tomography scans of the head, neck, chest and abdomen showed no nodular lesions. Cytological examination of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) revealed malignant cells with a scattered distribution pattern. The patient received intra-CSF methotrexate chemotherapy concurrent with whole-brain radiotherapy, which relieved the neurological symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of cytologically-confirmed LM from early glottic laryngeal cancer.