Meningeal carcinomatosis

As neoplastic meningitis (English: leptomeningeal spread) the spread of tumor cells into the soft meninges is called.

You usually occurs only in the late stages of cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis. Is the origin of the tumor more precisely known, one also speaks of a carcinomatous meningitis ( carcinoma), sarcomatosa ( sarcoma), gliomatosa ( glioma ), leucemica (leukemia ) or lymphomatous (lymphoma ). The proof is usually by examination of the cerebrospinal fluid, obtained by lumbar puncture.

Ways of treating the radiation of the central nervous system (CNS ), and chemotherapy. The possibilities of chemotherapy are, however, significantly limited by the fact that only a few cytotoxic drugs can cross the blood -brain barrier and therefore can build effective concentrations in the CNS. The treatment is therefore performed intrathecally usually (that is, the drugs are administered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid ). In Germany are approved for intrathecal chemotherapy methotrexate, cytarabine, and thiotepa.