Brain metastasis as an initial manifestation of a gallbladder carcinoma

Abstract

Though autopsy studies demonstrated 5% metastasis to the brain, clinical presentation of a central nervous system metastasis from gallbladder cancer is rare. We report a case of a 72-year-old woman who initially presented with a solitary brain metastasis from an adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder, which was diagnosed pre-operatively as glioblastoma multiforme. This is the second of such a case in the English literature. We emphasize the importance of including metastasis in the differential diagnosis of single intracranial tumor for proper planning of patient management.