title: Intraventricular and leptomeningeal dissemination of a pilocytic cerebellar astrocytoma in a child with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt: case report.
abstract: Dissemination of a pilocytic cerebellar astrocytoma is a very rare occurrence. So far only eight cases have been reported in the literature and in only one of these cases had the tumour spread into the ventricles. We report a case of a child who presented with communicating hydrocephalus and a small cerebellar lesion. The patient was initially treated by a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt and the lesion was followed-up. Two years later, intraventricular and leptomeningeal dissemination of the tumour which proved to be a pilocytic astrocytoma was documented. The role of the VP shunt in diverting metastasizing tumour cells into the ventricles is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Jamjoom
authors.forename: Z A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Jamjoom
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: al-Rayess
mesh_terms: D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology*; D001706:Biopsy; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002551:Cerebral Ventricle Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008578:Meninges / Q000473:pathology; D009366:Neoplasm Seeding; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology; D017287:Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt