Giant-celled glioblastoma multiforme is characterized by bizarre multinucleated giant cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, paucity of vascular endothelial proliferation, and increased reticulin fibers. It is considered by Rubinstein to be a variant of glioblastoma multiforme and by Zülch to be of mesenchymal origin. We studied retrospectively ten cases of giant-celled glioblastoma to correlate clinical and pathological features including immunohistochemistry and ultrastructure, radiology and survival time. Seven men and three women ranging in age from 23-75 years had variable clinical presentations and well defined lesions on computed tomography (eight patients). Well-defined at surgery, the tumor was located in temporal (six patients), frontal (three patients), and parieto occipital (one patient) lobes. Besides characteristic histology, glial-fibrillary acidic protein was positive in all, along with intracytoplasmic fibrils on electron microscopy. Three patients died within 3 days of surgery. Of the surviving seven treated with radiation and/or chemotherapy, three had a survival time of more than 36 months and four less than 15 months. Our study identifies this tumor to be of astrocytic lineage, with temporal lobe predilection, and overall a longer survival rate than glioblastoma multiforme.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.