ORPHA:252031
Diffuse leptomeningeal melanocytosis
Also known as: DLM · Leptomeningeal melanomatosis
Publications
202
69.3th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
1,114
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
1/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
Diffuse leptomeningeal melanocytosis is a rare tumor of meninges arising from leptomeningeal melanocytes, characterized by diffuse infiltration of the leptomeninges (pia mater and arachnoidea) anywhere in the central nervous system. Clinical features may include stillbirth, intracranial hypertension and hydrocephalus, seizure, , syringomyelia, cranial nerve palsy, intracranial haemorrhage, sphincter dysfunction and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Transformation into malignant melanoma of the central nervous system was reported. It may be associated with nevi, as a part of neurocutaneous melanosis.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0016745
- UMLS:C4749348
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
1/6 stages with a signal
Research-stage checklist from open sources (GenCC, literature, Monarch when enriched, ClinicalTrials.gov). Not a prognosis or care recommendation.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
202 matched papers (119 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialNot found
No matched interventional trial under our ClinicalTrials.gov rules
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
202
202 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
202 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
119 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 69.3th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 202 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
1,114
Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.
- 01Küsters B4 papers · 2015
Department of Pathology, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, PO Box 9015, 6500 GS Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Wesseling P4 papers · 2015
Department of Pathology, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, PO Box 9015, 6500 GS Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Blokx WA3 papers · 2015Papers in Europe PMC
- 04Gocmen R3 papers · 2025
Department of Radiology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Groenen PJ3 papers · 2015Papers in Europe PMC
- 06Kinsler VA3 papers · 2017
Department of Dermatology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Küsters-Vandevelde HV3 papers · 2015
Department of Pathology C66, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, and Department of Pathology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9015, 6500 GS Nijmegen, The Netherlands. h.vandevelde@pathol.umcn.nl
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Müllauer L3 papers · 2023
Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Sorrentino G3 papers · 2019
Institute of Neurological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, 2nd University of Naples, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy. giusorre@unina.it
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Azizi AA2 papers · 2023
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
0
interventional trials for this specific condition
No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present).
Data as of 27 July 2026
No matched interventional trials. This is true for 73% of diseases in the trials denominator (5114 of 7003). Here are the researchers publishing on it.
medium confidence · 36.5th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.
See who's working on it — people publishing on this disease are often the practical next contact when no trial is listed.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Diffuse leptomeningeal melanocytosis" OR "Leptomeningeal melanomatosis"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Diffuse leptomeningeal melanocytosis" OR "Leptomeningeal melanomatosis"
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Synonyms dropped by stoplist: DLM
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- 1 synonym(s) dropped by stoplist (may under-count)
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T10:58:33.464Z