1/23. Secondary supratentorial anaplastic astrocytoma following treatment of medulloblastoma.The development of secondary tumours is a rare but well known late effect of radiation therapy of lesions in the central nervous system. Most radiation-induced tumours are of mesenchymal origin, but on rare occasions gliomas can occur. We describe a patient in whom a supratentorial anaplastic astrocytoma developed 15 years after surgery and radiotherapy for a childhood posterior fossa medulloblastoma. A concise review of the pertinent literature is given.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = central nervous system, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/23. Supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumours: diffusion-weighted MRI.We report the clinical and pathological findings of supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs). These are rare, poorly differentiated, highly malignant neoplasms occurring primarily in young individuals. They frequently show dissemination to the spinal cord and sometimes also beyond neuraxis. Preoperative radiological diagnosis is difficult, due to the nonspecific CT and MRI characteristics. Our findings indicate that diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can be used to show the solid portion of the tumour preoperatively and to monitor postsurgical recovery. We describe the MRI findings in three patients with histologically confirmed supratentorial PNET, focussing on the role of DWI for improving the specificity of radiological diagnosis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.53941693988074keywords = neoplasm (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/23. Supratentorial giant cell ependymoma.Ependymomas account for 3 to 9% of all neuroepithelial tumors and, although occurring most often within the ventricular system, they may arise from the extraventricular parenchyma as well. Several histologic patterns of these neoplasm are well known, but little attention has been devoted to a variant composed of giant elements. We describe the case of a 13-year-old girl experiencing a 3-month history of partial seizures in whom cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed an extraventricular, right parietotemporal neoplasm, adherent to the overlying dura mater. Histologic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural findings were consistent with those of a high-grade ependymoma. The tumor was characterized by the presence of a major component of pleomorphic giant cells, as also seen in pleomorphic xantoastrocytoma, subependymal giant cell astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme. Similar elements have been described in two filum terminale and one supratentorial, intraventricular ependymoma, respectively. Histologic and evolutional data of those and of our own case suggest that isolated giant cells are not necessarily linked to a bad prognosis in ependymomas.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.0788338797615keywords = neoplasm (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/23. Desmoplastic neuroepithelial tumor of infancy in the nevus sebaceus syndrome: report of a unique constellation and review of the literature.The nevus sebaceus syndrome (NSS) is a neurocutaneous disorder characterized by unilateral hyperplasia of skin appendages and skeletal hemihypertrophy, hemimegalencephaly, or hemiatrophy along with disabling seizures. Despite the proneness of the dermal stigmata to eventually undergo neoplastic transformation, the malformative lesions of the central nervous system rarely evolve into frank tumors. We present the case of a 10-year-old girl with left-sided sebaceus nevi, ipsilateral enlargement of the skull, and a desmoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET) in the right fronto-parietal area of the brain. The tumor was removed by surgery. Histologically, it corresponded to a mitotically active small-cell anaplastic astrocytoma with genuine desmoplasia. Investigative methods included immunohistochemical positivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein, lack of expression of neuronal markers, and ultrastructural documentation of sheaths of basal lamina and collagen around tumor cells. A survey of the literature of brain tumors associated with NSS revealed two cases of histologically verified pilocytic astrocytomas, and one each of a choroid plexus papilloma, a mixed glioma, and a meningioma, as well as a subependymal giant cell astrocytoma--the latter possibly in an overlap syndrome of NSS and tuberous sclerosis. We hypothesize that the tumor described herein, one involving both atypical differentiation and enhanced growth potential, is paradigmatic of neuropathological events to be expected in the NSS.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = central nervous system, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/23. Rhabdoid glioblastoma.Rhabdoid phenotypic change has been described in a number of different neoplasms from diverse organ sites. These tumors share common light and electron-microscopic features, display a polyphenotypic immunohistochemical profile and often show cytogenetic abnormalities of chromosome 22. In the central nervous system (CNS), most rhabdoid tumors occur in the posterior fossa of very young children and are associated with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) component and are designated atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors. Infrequently, other rhabdoid tumors of the CNS have been described, including rhabdoid meningiomas and malignant rhabdoid tumors of uncertain histogenesis. Several examples of conventional gliomas displaying significant areas with rhabdoid morphology were also presented in an abstract by Kepes and Moral [1991], although never published in final manuscript form. We now detail the case of an 18-year-old male with an aggressive, supratentorial CNS rhabdoid tumor that was associated with an epithelioid glioblastoma and apparently arose from areas of low-grade glioma. The rhabdoid tumor component was present in the original tumor but became more predominant with each of 3 successive resections. No areas of PNET were identified. Electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry showed features classic for rhabdoid tumors and cytogenetic studies demonstrated multiple tumor clones with monosomy 22. This case documents progressive rhabdoid transformation of a glioma, expands the spectrum of CNS tumor types that can display a rhabdoid phenotype and highlights the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges with this type of tumor.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.5394169398807keywords = central nervous system, neoplasm, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/23. A novel case of a CAT to AAT transversion in codon 179 of the p53 gene in a supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor harbored by a young girl. Case report and review of the literature.BACKGROUND: The most common cytogenetic abnormality encountered in primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET)/medulloblastoma is loss of heterozygosity in the region of the short arm of chromosome 17. There is some evidence that supratentorial PNET has different cytogenetic markers than infratentorial PNET/medulloblastoma. Particularly, loss of 17p is more frequent in the latter than in the former. We describe a young girl diagnosed with supratentorial PNET (SPNET). Analysis of the tumor suppressor gene p53 in the tumorous tissue revealed a rare transversion mutational event of CAT to AAT in position 179 of exon 5. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of such a transversion at codon 179 in the p53 gene in SPNET. CASE REPORT: A 12-year-old girl was admitted with nausea, headache and vision disturbances. MRI of the brain showed a large space- occupying lesion in the right frontal lobe. Histological examination of the macroscopic resection of the tumor revealed PNET of the brain. polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism analysis of all p53 exons was performed, and a unique variant of a transversion at codon 179 of exon 5 was revealed. Therapy was started according to the Children's Cancer group protocol (CCG-99702) designated for treatment of high-risk central nervous system embryonal tumors. She received an initial course of chemotherapy, consisting of cyclophosphamide and vincristine for mobilizing and harvesting peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). Then she was given craniospinal irradiation (3,600 cGy) with a boost to the tumor bed (1,980 cGy) and three consecutive courses of high-dose chemotherapy with carboplatin, vincristine and thiotepa/cyclophosphamide, with PBSCs support after each course. RESULTS: The patient is in complete remission 17 months after diagnosis, based on the results of physical examination and imaging studies. DISCUSSION: The mutation results in an alteration of the amino acid HIS to ASN. The amino acids surrounding position 175 play an important role in stabilizing the p53/dna complex. There are only 12 known mutations of the reported type, and the finding of such a rare mutational event in a low-incidence p53 mutation tumor, such as SPNET, might add additional insight into the p53-SPNET relationship in tumorigenesis. Although not widely accepted, it is possible that different mutations of the p53 gene in patients with brain tumors may imply a different ultimate prognosis. In our case, we cannot exclude the fact that transversion of CAT to AAT in position 179 of exon 5 may explain prolonged survival of a patient with good response to therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = central nervous system, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/23. Supratentorial hemangioblastoma: a case report and review of the literature.central nervous system hemangioblastoma is a histologically benign tumor that usually occurs in the cerebellum. Supratentorial hemangioblastomas are exceedingly rare tumors. We present a case of cerebral hemangioblastoma, review the literature on supratentorial hemangioblastoma, and discuss the histologic characteristics and diagnostic difficulties associated with such lesions.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.21882600404116keywords = nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/23. von hippel-lindau disease: a case report.Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) disease is a rare autosomal dominant condition manifested by central nervous system hemangioblastoma, retinal angiomas, cysts of pancreas, kidney and epididymis, pheochromocytomas and renal cell carcinoma. We present such a case in a 45 years old male patient.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = central nervous system, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/23. Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor: an unusual presentation.Atypical teratoid/ rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) of the central nervous system is a rare, highly aggressive malignancy of infancy. Although it is reported infrequently in the literature, it has often been histologically confused with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET)/medulloblastoma (MB) but has a much worse prognosis. We present an infant with two AT/RT tumors, one suprasellar in location and the other within the vermis without evidence of tumor elsewhere. What makes this case unusual is that there were two separate lesions in different cranial compartments, with no evidence of subarachnoid seeding. In addition, the lesions had different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics even though they were histologically the same.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = central nervous system, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/23. The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to achieve complete surgical resection in recurring supratentorial anaplastic ependymoma.INTRODUCTION: ependymoma is a central nervous system neoplasm that is often managed with surgery and radiotherapy. The benefits of chemotherapy in treating this tumor remain poorly defined. CASE REPORT: The use of a platinum-based chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment to permit complete surgical resection of a supratentorial anaplastic ependymoma recurring for the third time is described. DISCUSSION: This paper also discusses the possible use of chemotherapy as a strategy that may allow tumor shrinkage and ease tumor resection in giant recurring ependymomas.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.5394169398807keywords = central nervous system, neoplasm, nervous system (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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