Gangliocytoma of the pineal body a case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Ganglion cell tumours are mostly seen in children and young people, but they are extremely rare, accounting for 0.1-0.5% of all brain tumours. It usually occurs in the floor of the third ventricle and the temporal lobe. Recently we have experienced a pineal gangliocytoma, probably the first ever seen in Japan and the fourth case in the world, and have succeeded in a total removal of it. The case concerns a 51-year-old man who suffered from intermittent blurred vision and headache of 3 years' duration. CT showed, together with severe hydrocephalus, positive contrast medium enhancement and a somewhat irregular but sharply circumscribed high density lesion suggestive of a meningioma. But the brain scintiscan revealed a badly and irregularly demarcated region of warm activity and having little change with time mainly in the pineal region, which was strongly suspicious of gliomas. Hence this scan was thought to be important in diagnosing this tumour. As an operative procedure, biparieto-occipital craniotomy was successfully performed in the "sea lion" position to remove the tumour totally. Pathological findings indicated a mixture of dispersion and concentration of giant cells possessing prominent nucleoli, abundant chromatin and a prominent nucleus or several nuclei of varying sizes and process-like cell bodies polygonal or irregular in shape. GFAP stain showing no glial fibres and the tumour was thought to be a gangliocytoma.

Large Pineal Meningioma Causing Loss of Vision in a Teenager

“…Bilateral hearing and vision impairment has been frequently associated with pineal tumors [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Ganglioglioma da região da pineal: relato de caso

“…Em 1930, Courville publicou a primeira casuística, com 20 pacientes portadores de ganglioglioma e extensa revisão, estabelecendo, a partir de então, essa denominação na literatura 2 . Na revisão da literatura foram encontrados apenas oito casos de ganglioglioma da região da pineal publicados [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] , que com o atual relato perfazem nove casos. Horrax e Bayle, em 1928, descreveram o primeiro caso (ganglioneuroma) 9 .…”

“…Assim, os gangliogliomas da região da pineal são tumores extremamente raros 5 . Na revisão da literatura foram encontrados apenas oito casos publicados [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] , nenhum deles no Brasil.Tendo em vista a raridade desta lesão decidiu-se pela realização do presente estudo, no qual é relatado o caso de paciente de 14 anos, masculino, com ganglioglioma da região da pineal e são revisadas as características clínicas, radiográficas, histopatoló-gicas, além do tratamento e do prognóstico de tais tumores. CASO Trata-se de paciente de 14 anos, masculino, branco, com história de, aos seis anos de idade, ter iniciado quadro de cefaléia holocraniana, episódica, que aliviava com analgésicos convencionais.…”

“…Assim, os gangliogliomas da região da pineal são tumores extremamente raros 5 . Na revisão da literatura foram encontrados apenas oito casos publicados [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] , nenhum deles no Brasil.…”

Posterior fossa gangliocytoma with facial nerve invasion: case report

“…MRI obtained at that time demonstrated no further progression of the lesion. Neuronal and mixed neuronal-glial tumors are extremely rare, accounting for 0.1% to 0.5% of all brain tumors 3 . They are mostly seen in children and young people 3 , but the age of incidence ranges from 2 months to 80 years 1 .…”