Intracranial Lesions Presenting as Bony Swellings of Scalp â?? An Observational Study of 13 Cases at King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, A Tertiary Care Government Hospital

Abstract

Yarlagadda Srinivas Rao1, Manda Venkata Vijayasekhar2, Patirla Prahalad3, Kadali Satyavaraprasad4, Atla Bhagyalakshmi5, Botta Venkata Satyakartheek6

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intracranial lesions eroding the
calvarium and presenting as bony swellings of the scalp. This kind of presentation
is usually rare. This is because intracranial tumours usually manifest early with
focal neurological deficits, seizures or features of raised intracranial pressure. Only
a few patients, in whom the intracranial lesions, despite being present for a long
duration, do not have neurological manifestations but erode the overlying bone
and may present as bony swellings of the scalp. We studied the clinical
presentation of such lesions, analysed their radiological and histological
characteristics.
METHODS
This is an observational study from October 2018 to September 2020. A total of
thirteen cases were studied in the Department of Neurosurgery, Andhra Medical
College, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. After clinical examination, an
appropriate diagnostic workup was done, and all the cases were taken up for
surgery. The clinical behaviour and histopathological features of the lesions were
analysed.
RESULTS
In our study of thirteen cases, the most common cause of an intracranial lesion
presenting as bony scalp swelling is meningioma which comprised almost 53.8 %,
the second most common lesion is secondaries. Others included fibrous dysplasia
and malignant small blue round cell tumour.
CONCLUSIONS
Intracranial lesions eroding the bone and presenting as scalp swellings are rare.
In our study, the spectrum of these scalp swellings has ranged from benign lesions
like meningioma to malignant lesions like secondary deposits.
 

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