title: [Elderly patient with cerebellar malignant astrocytoma].
abstract: Malignant cerebellar astrocytoma is very rare and the prognosis is extremely poor. We report herein the case of an elderly patient with malignant cerebellar astrocytoma. This 80-year-old man initially presented with dizziness and ataxia of the right hand. Metastatic cerebellar tumor was diagnosed on first admission, based on a past history of colon cancer treated by surgery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings supporting the diagnosis of metastasis. The patient underwent gamma knife surgery (20 Gy) and was discharged. Follow-up after discharge was insufficient. Two years after gamma knife surgery, he returned to our hospital complaining of dizziness, headache, and right limb ataxia. MRI revealed a cystic mass in the right cerebellar hemisphere, and the lesion was removed by right suboccipital craniotomy. The tumor represented malignant astrocytoma. Optimal management of patients harboring sush difficult. to-treat tumors, including the role of gamma-knife radiosurgery, is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Research Institute for Brain and Blood Vessels Akita, 6-10 Senshu-Kubota-machi, Akita 010-0874, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Junta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moroi
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanyu
authors.forename: Motofumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Norikata
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Tatsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mutou
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hikichi
authors.forename: Akifumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yasui
authors.forename: Yasuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D016634:Radiosurgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome