Neuroblastoma in an adult: Case report

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid malignancy in children but rarely described in adults, being 10% of all cases diagnosed after the fi rst decade of life. We report a 23 year-old black woman with a mass at paravertebral region of T3-T5, multiple lesions in vertebral bodies and expanding skull-brain lesion at the right parietal region. Immunohistochemical analysis (negative for CD99, CD20, CD3 and desmin; and positive chromogranin, synaptophysin and NB84) confi rmed the diagnosis of neuroblastoma. The patient was submitted to 12 cycles of chemotherapy receiving VAC (vincristine/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide) interspersed with ICE (ifosfamide/mesna/etoposide) and doxorubicin was replaced by actinomycin in the 7th cycle. She had good tolerance to this therapy, and has been clinically stable.

A Case of Retroperitoneal Primary Neuroblastoma that Developed in Adulthood

“…Thus, adult neuroblastoma is considered to have a poor prognosis because the standard treatment has not been established and the current situation demands referring to the guidelines for children for treatment. For this reason, in recent years, cases in which ICE therapy was effective for children have been reported [15] and as expected, cases of usage of ICE therapy in adults have been reported [1,16] as in our case. However, adults, as in the case of our patient, may refuse chemotherapy due to the serious side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea and vomiting; therefore, treatment may not be performed adequately in line with the guidelines, which seems to be a problem.…”