A report of Bell's Palsy triggered by leptomeningeal metastases from recurrent high grade serous ovarian cancer

In the United States, epithelial ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths than all other gynecologic malignancies combined. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women, yet only accounts for 3% of cancers in women (Jemal et al., 2011). There are no adequate screening tests for ovarian cancer and the clinical symptoms are often nonspecific. Consequently, up to two-thirds of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease (Johnson, 1993). Distant metastases beyond the abdomen and pleural cavity are rare. Cerebral metastases are exceedingly uncommon and have been described in less than 2% of cases (Miller et al., 2011). Central nervous system metastases involving the leptomeninges (LM) are even rarer, with only a few reported cases in the literature (Toyoshima et al., 2017). The presentation of LM metastasis is highly variable, however most patients present with acute, progressive neurological deficits (Yust-Katz et al., 2013). In this case report, we discuss a woman with a history of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma who presented with acute onset of unilateral Bell's palsy and was found to have leptomeningeal metastases from her ovarian cancer.