title: Desmoplastic infantile astrocytoma: recurrence with malignant transformation into glioblastoma: a case report.
abstract: Desmoplastic infantile astrocytoma (DIA) is an uncommon brain tumor of early infancy. The tumor is characterized by a lobar location, glial histology, and excellent prognosis after surgical removal. DIA and a similar tumor, desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma (DIG) have been considered to be benign neoplasms, but the prognosis of DIA and DIG is currently under question as atypical and aggressive clinical features of the tumors have been reported. We encountered a patient who was diagnosed with DIA at the age of 22 months and exhibited tumor recurrence 8 years later. Surgical removal of the recurred tumor revealed that the tumor had transformed to overt glioblastoma. This case demonstrates that DIA is not an absolutely benign tumor and that careful clinical surveillance is needed during the follow-up period.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, 101 Daehakro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Republic of Korea. phijh@naver.com
authors.forename: Ji Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Phi
authors.forename: Eun Jung
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Seung-Ki
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Hye
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Byung-Kyu
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Kyu-Chang
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012008:Recurrence