Meningeal carcinomatosis as a late complication of brain metastases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

The brain represents a rare site of metastasis in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). In recent decades there has been an apparent increase in the number of EOC patients diagnosed with brain metastases, probably as a result of improved prognosis of patients with advanced tumors, but cases of meningeal carcinomatosis complicating EOC remain rare. A patient with Stage III EOC had brain metastases diagnosed 31 months after primary surgery. The isolated brain metastases were controlled with radiosurgery, surgery and chemotherapy. Forty-five months after the diagnosis of brain metastases, meningeal carcinomatosis was diagnosed which led, despite intrathecal therapy, to a fatal outcome. At autopsy, the disease was limited to the central nervous system. Meningeal carcinomatosis may represent a late fatal complication of brain metastases of EOC.