Angiocentric glioma: a case series

J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2009 Mar;3(3):197-202. doi: 10.3171/2008.11.PEDS0858.

Abstract

Object: Angiocentric glioma was recently recognized as a distinct clinicopathological entity in the 2007 World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous System. The authors present the first 3 pediatric cases of angiocentric glioma encountered at their institution and review the literature of reported cases to elucidate the characteristics and outcomes of pediatric patients with this novel tumor.

Methods: The children in the 3 cases of angiocentric glioma were 10, 10, and 13 years old. Two presented with intractable seizures and 1 with worsening headache and several months of decreasing visual acuity. Twenty-five cases, including the 3 first described in the present paper, were culled from the literature.

Results: In all 3 cases, MR imaging demonstrated a superficial, nonenhancing, T2-hyperintense lesion in the left temporal lobe. Histologically, the tumors were composed of monomorphous cells with a strikingly perivascular orientation that were variably reactive for glial fibrillary acidic protein and epithelial membrane antigen. Surgical treatment resulted in gross-total resection in all 3 cases. By 24, 9, and 6 months after surgery, all 3 patients remained seizure free without focal neurological deficits.

Conclusions: Among 25 cases of angiocentric glioma, seizure was the most common symptom at presentation. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated supratentorial, nonenhancing, T1-hypointense, T2-hyperintense lesions. Gross-total resection of this lesion yields excellent results.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Brain Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Child
  • Female
  • Glioma / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male