Persistence and late malignant transformation of childhood cerebellar astrocytoma. Case report.
A 5-year-old girl with juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma subsequently had multiple episodes of symptomatic recurrence over the course of 21 years of follow-up review. This lesion underwent histological transformation to an anaplastic small-cell neoplasm 21 years after the initial resection and diagnosis. Late transformation of benign childhood cerebellar astrocytomas to malignant astrocytic tumors is very rare; transformation to an anaplastic small-cell neoplasm has not been reported previously. This case and other reported cases in which juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma recurred after a long interval indicate the requirement of long-term follow-up review of these patients before assuming either a cure or arrest of the tumor's growth.
D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002524:Cerebellar Ataxia / Q000209:etiology; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003399:Craniotomy; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*