Clinico-pathological features of pilomyxoid astrocytoma of the optic pathway.
Five cases of pilomyxoid astrocytoma (PmA) characterized by a monophasic pattern with a myxoid background were selected for a clinicopathological study from 23 cases previously diagnosed as pilocytic astrocytoma (PA). All PmA patients were either infants or young children (mean age 2.1 years), and all tumors were located in the optic chiasm/hypothalamus region. All cases received chemotherapy, which reduced tumor size, and the location of the tumor became confined to the optic chiasm. In two cases, tumor recurrence occurred 3 and 7 years after chemotherapy. Histology of the recurrent tumors showed the biphasic pattern of classical PA. Hence, we conclude that PmA might be an infantile form of PA and speculate that a subset of PmA in the optic pathway/hypothalamus originates from the optic chiasm, possibly derived from radial glia existing in the embryonic optic chiasm.
Chikai
Kanako
K
Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Kita 15, Nishi 7, 060-8638, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
Ohnishi
Akiko
A
Kato
Tsutomu
T
Ikeda
Jun
J
Sawamura
Yutaka
Y
Iwasaki
Yoshinobu
Y
Itoh
Tomoo
T
Sawa
Hirofumi
H
Nagashima
Kazuo
K
D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004358:Drug Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007029:Hypothalamic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000473:pathology*; D019574:Optic Nerve Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013997:Time Factors