Retroperitoneal neuroblastoma widely metastatic to the central nervous system

A girl with congenital extraadrenal neuroblastoma died at 3 months of age with multiple parenchymal metastases in the brain and spinal cord. The bones of the skull, cranial dura, venous sinuses, and orbits were not involved. Autopsy findings suggest that the tumor penetrated the spinal meninges and disseminated through the cerebrospinal fluid. It is possible that hematogenous metastasis occurred as well. The intracerebral metastases were not identified on a CT scan performed several hours before the child's death.