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J Neurol Surg Rep 2012; 73(01): 041-047
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321503
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Calcifying Pseudoneoplasms of the Skull Base Presenting with Cranial Neuropathies: Case Report and Literature Review

Yoichi Nonaka
1   Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
,
Hamid R. Aliabadi
1   Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
,
Allan H. Friedman
1   Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
,
Fred G. Odere
2   Division of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
,
Takanori Fukushima
1   Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
3   Carolina Neuroscience Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

14 April 2011

14 January 2012

Publication Date:
02 July 2012 (online)

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Abstract

Objectives We report our institutional experience with calcifying pseudoneoplasms of the skull base that presented with cranial neuropathies. These lesions are also known as fibro-osseous lesions, cerebral calculi, or brain stones.

Results One patient presented with facial numbness and retro-orbital pain secondary to compression of the maxillary branch of the trigeminal nerve at the anterior portion of the infratemporal fossa. The other patient presented with occipital headaches and hypoglossal nerve palsy. This patient was found to have a calcified lesion in the posterior fossa, which eroded the left occipital condyle.

Conclusion Calcifying pseudoneoplasms are benign, slow-growing masses that are apparently cured by gross total resection. Even with incomplete tumor resection, the prognosis is considered to be favorable. We advocate a minimally invasive surgical resection of such tumors involving the cranial nerves.

Keywords

brain stone - calcifying pseudoneoplasm - cerebral calculi - fibro-osseous lesion - neural axis
 

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