TUMOR OF THE PINEAL GLAND (PINEALOCYTOMA) WITH MENINGEAL AND NEURAL METASTASES

Abstract

The case we are reporting is unusual and in some respects seems to be unique. The problem it presented to the clinician and the pathologist was finally solved by microscopic study of the tissues obtained post mortem. REPORT OF A CASE History. —The patient, a hatter, aged 33, on admission to the hospital on Jan. 20, 1933, complained chiefly of pains in the back, numbness of the hands and progressive weakness and numbness of the right thigh. The family history was irrelevant. In 1929 the patient had suffered from polyuria, polydipsia, blurring of vision and loss of sexual power. He was observed at the Mount Sinai Hospital, where a diagnosis of tumor of the pituitary gland was made (a flattened sella turcica was found) and roentgen therapy was instituted. At that time the basal metabolic rate was —29. The blurring of vision improved sufficiently to permit him to return to