[The relation between melorheostosis and tumors]

Melorheostosis was diagnosed in a 13 year old female. Two years later an x-ray of the skull showed an calcified intracerebral mass. At the age of 18 years the patient died. The autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of melorheostosis and revealed a meningioma of falx cerebri in close proximity to predominantly intraventricular calcified tissue. A neurinoma of the left acoustic nerve was also found. In the literature melorheostosis has been anecdotally described in combination with nevi, hemangiomas, pelvic lipoma, lipoma of the spinal cord, chondrofibromas of the median nerve, tuberous sclerosis and neurofibromatosis. The nature of the relationship between melorheostosis and neoplasms has not been clarified. Those observations as well as the present report indicate an increased frequency of tumors (particularly of the nervous system) in patients with melorheostosis.