title: Clinicopathological analysis of central and extraventricular neurocytoma: a report of 17 cases.
abstract: Neurocytoma, a rare brain tumor, is characterized by a mass located mainly in cerebral ventricles. It is prone to be misdiagnosed as oligodendroglioma or ependymoma due to their similar histopathological features in clinical practice. This study aimed to examine the clinicopathological features and differential diagnosis of central and extraventricular neurocytoma. The clinical and histopathological data of 17 patients (male: female=7:10; age: 4-41 years; mean age: 27.4 years) with central or extraventricular neurocytoma were retrospectively analyzed. These patients showed typical radiological, histopathological and immunohistochemical features of neurocytoma. The tumor tissue was found to be composed of small uniform cells with round nuclei and clear cytoplasm resembling that of oligodendroglioma and ependymoma. Immunohistochemistry revealed the tumor tissues were positive for neuronal markers such as synaptophysin (SYN) and neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN). It was concluded histopathological features of neurocytoma overlaps with some tumors in the central neural system. Immunopositivity for SYN and NeuN can help differentially diagnose neurocytoma.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. pathzhu@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Qilin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology; D002551:Cerebral Ventricle Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018306:Neurocytoma / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016708:Synaptophysin; C506808:neuronal nuclear antigen NeuN, human