Cerebral Pilocytic Astrocytoma with Spontaneous Intracranial Hemorrhage in Adults

Pilocytic astrocytomas are found predominantly in the pediatric population; reports of these tumors are extremely rare in adults. We report 2 cases of adult pilocytic astrocytoma with intracranial hemorrhage. A 32-year-old male presented with neck stiffness and severe headache, and a 34-year-old mal...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Chinese Medical Association 2008-11, Vol.71 (11), p.587-593
Main Authors: Li, Hao-Ming, Hsu, Shu-Shong, Wang, Jyh-Seng, Weng, Mei-Jui, Fu, Jui-Hsun, Chen, Clement Kuen-Huang, Lai, Ping-Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Astrocytoma - complications
Astrocytoma - diagnosis
brain neoplasm
Brain Neoplasms - complications
Brain Neoplasms - diagnosis
Cerebral Hemorrhage - etiology
Humans
Internal Medicine
intracranial hemorrhage
Male
perfusion weighted imaging
pilocytic astrocytoma
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Pilocytic astrocytomas are found predominantly in the pediatric population; reports of these tumors are extremely rare in adults. We report 2 cases of adult pilocytic astrocytoma with intracranial hemorrhage. A 32-year-old male presented with neck stiffness and severe headache, and a 34-year-old male was referred for headache and double vision. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a well-enhanced and circumscribed cystic hemorrhagic tumor with mural nodule over the cerebral hemisphere region. Perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI) was also performed in both patients. The measured relative cerebral blood volume ratios of the mural nodules in these 2 cases were, respectively, 1.34 and 2.81 when compared with normal white matter. After surgical resection, microscopic examination of the lesions showed pilocytic astrocytomas. Since pilocytic astrocytoma and other cystic tumors with mural nodule (such as hemangioblastoma) have similar findings on conventional CT and MRI, PWI is helpful in the differential diagnosis. The literature on hemorrhagic pilocytic astrocytoma is also reviewed.
ISSN:1726-4901
1728-7731
DOI:10.1016/S1726-4901(08)70175-8