Haemorrhagic Brain Metastasis From Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Rare Case

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) typically has a short median survival of only a few months from diagnosis, with death usually due to thoracic disease. This has led to the belief in the past that mesothelioma rarely has distant metastasis, with cerebral metastasis accounting for only 3%. The multiple cases of brain metastasis from MPM recorded so far were discovered after death at autopsy. This report describes a rare case of known malignant mesothelioma with distant haemorrhagic metastasis to the brain, reviews current literature about its metastatic potential to the brain and discusses prognosis and management. We also review the imaging evaluation in known MPM patients with suspected intracranial involvement and describe typical imaging findings of parenchymal brain metastasis on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).