Benign pleomorphic astrocytoma in the hypothalamus--case report.
A 41-year-old woman presented with an unusual case of benign astrocytoma with marked pleomorphism manifesting as consciousness disturbance due to intraventricular hemorrhage. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a well-enhanced hypothalamic mass protruding into the third ventricle. Despite partial resection of the tumor without additional therapy, there have been no signs of tumor regrowth for 6 years. The histological findings revealed solid proliferation of tumor cells with marked pleomorphism, contrary to the benign clinical course. However, no mitosis, necrosis, or endothelial proliferation were found and the MIB-1 index was less than 0.5%. Immunohistochemical staining indicated the glial origin of the tumor. The tumor was similar to pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma, but the histological findings were not exactly identical, indicating a new histological entity.
Department of Neurosurgery, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Japan. abet@med.oita-u.ac.jp
Tatsuya
T
Abe
Ryo
R
Inoue
Mitsuo
M
Isono
Keisuke
K
Ishii
Minoru
M
Fujiki
Tohru
T
Kamida
Hidenori
H
Kobayashi
Kenji
K
Kashima
Takanori
T
Kusakabe
Yoichi
Y
Nakazato
D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness