Abstract
A 5-year-old child with typical clinical features of neurofibromatosis presented with a history of suspected basilar meningitis and CT findings of enlarged optic nerves and an expanding left cavernous sinus mass. CSF cytologies and meningeal biopsy were unremarkable. At craniotomy, a mass confluent with the left trigeminal nerve was resected which had histologic characteristics of a nerve sheath tumor but was GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) stain positive. Postmortem examination, 1 month following surgical resection, demonstrated a clinically unsuspected primary thoracic spinal cord astrocytoma with dissemination throughout the subarachnoid space, invasion of the trigeminal nerve and encasement of other cranio-spinal nerves. This unusual case emphasizes the occurrence of leptomeningeal spread in a clinically silent spinal cord glioma and the diagnostic value of immunohistochemistry.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 159-163 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of neuro-oncology |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1986 |
Keywords
- GFAP
- leptomeningeal dissemination
- neurofibromatosis
- spinal cord astrocytoma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology
- Cancer Research