Two primary brain tumors, meningioma and glioblastoma multiforme, in opposite hemispheres of the same patient

We report a case with double primary intracranial tumors of different cell types without phacomatosis. The patient was hospitalized due to progressive memory impairment, headaches, dysarthria and right hemiparesis. Initial computed tomographic (CT) examinations revealed a large hyperdense tumor over the right frontal lobe, suggestive of an extra-axial meningioma. Additionally, there was unusual brain edema in the contralateral hemisphere that subsequently proved to originate from an intrinsic tumor. Staged craniotomies were used to treat the patient. Pathological examinations confirmed the two tumors to be a meningioma and a glioblastoma multiforme, respectively. The patient made an uneventful recovery after treatment. Although meningioma and glioma represent two common primary intracranial tumors, the simultaneous development of the two tumors is rare. A randomly occurring event most likely accounted for this linkage in the patient. We suggest that extraordinary brain edema far remote from the primary brain lesion warrants special attention for identifying other potentially undetected lesions.