Intracranial Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor: A Review of 49 cases

Abstract

Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor (IMT) is a rare pathologic entity that was first described in 1973. This lesion is most commonly found in the lungs, but other organs’ involvement has also been reported. Intracranial location of Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor is rare, and the first case was reported in 1980. An intriguing fact about the intracranial IMT is its resemblance with meningioma on clinical presentation and neuroimaging. We came across a case of intracranial Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor (IIMT) in a 27-year-old male who presented with recurrent episodes of seizures and was diagnosed as meningioma on neuroimaging. The lesion did not subside with medical management and kept on progressing in size. The patient had to undergo surgery, and diagnosis of Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor was ascertained on histopathology. This ‘surprise’ diagnosis prompted us to review the literature on all cases of IIMTs reported to date to better understand the entity and its implications. In this review article, we present our observations regarding various studied parameters, including patient profile, clinical presentation, site of involvement, focality of the lesion, special associations, and lines of management of the 49 published cases of IIMTs.