title: A case of cerebral ganglioneuronal tumor in the parietal lobe of an adult.
abstract: Central nervous system (CNS) neuroblastoma/ganglioneuroblastoma is one of the embryonal tumors with neuronal differentiation found in young adults, but it is most common in children, especially in those below the age of 5 years, whereas extraventricular neurocytoma, a rare neuroepithelial tumor with neuronal differentiation, mostly affects young adults. Here we present a rare case of cerebral ganglioneuronal tumor that occurred in a 32-year-old woman. The patient suffered from tonic convulsion, and computed tomography demonstrated a well-demarcated, round tumor 3.3 cm in size with marked calcification in the right parietal lobe. Histological analysis revealed diffuse infiltration of small, round cells with scattered large ganglion-like cells. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells did not react with any neuronal molecules, except for chromogranin A in ganglion-like large tumor cells, but electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of synapse-like nerve terminal structures without mature postsynaptic density, suggesting the presence of neoplastic tumor components with neuronal differentiation; thus, this tumor was diagnosed as CNS ganglioneuroblastoma with possible low-grade malignancy because the Mib-1 labeling index was less than 3%-4%. Here we discuss the histological entity of cerebral ganglioneuronal tumors, including extraventricular neurocytoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Medicine, N15W7, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan. nisihara@patho2.med.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishihara
authors.forename: Yoshimaru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.forename: Tamio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshinaga
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tabu
authors.forename: Mishie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanino
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D018305:Ganglioneuroblastoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed