What Is a Choroid Plexus Papilloma?
In April 2017, Jeannie Gaffigan, a comedy writer and producer of The Jim Gaffigan Show, starring her comedian husband Jim, was diagnosed with a choroid plexus papilloma.
Choroid plexus papilloma is a rare and noncancerous tumor that grows anywhere there is choroid tissue, such as inside the ventricles. In Gaffigan’s case, it was near the brainstem.
This region of the brain is “high-priced real estate,” says Joshua Bederson, MD, a neurosurgeon at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, who operated on Gaffigan. It’s significant, he says, because it controls so many critical functions, including the flow of messages between the brain and the rest of the body, as well as swallowing, blood pressure, heart rate, consciousness, balance, speech, and even breathing.
The tumor cells can trigger an increase in cerebrospinal fluid, which results in excess fluid and pressure on the brainstem, says Dr. Bederson. Symptoms include headache, nausea, dizziness, visual disturbances, and problems with balance. Experts are unsure what causes the tumor, but possibilities include genetic and environmental factors, immune system problems, and infections.
Gaffigan’s case was complicated because the tumor was large (about the size of a pear) and aggressive and she was 47 at the time, says Dr. Bederson. The condition is much more common in children. Only 2 to 4 percent of tumors are diagnosed in adults, he notes. Due to her unusual case, Gaffigan underwent frequent MRI scans during the first year after her surgery to be certain no microscopic cells remained that could grow back.
Dr. Bederson thinks Gaffigan is cured of the tumor, and if it does return, he says she would be eligible for stereotactic radiosurgery, a nonsurgical radiation therapy that delivers targeted high-dose radiation to tumor cells while preserving healthy tissue.