With 4 Figures
SummaryTwo cases of an olfactory neuroblastoma are reported. The leading symptom was the increase in intracranial pressure. In spite of radical exstirpation--removal of the intracraniM part including the infiltrated brain tissue as well as the part extending into the paranasal sinuses via a bifrontal transcranial approach--and postoperative radiation the tumour recurred in both cases. The survival time is now four and thirteen years. We suspect that neurologists and neurosurgeons have not always diagnosed the intracranial portions of these tumour correctly, because of their polymorphism. Wherever a tumour with the characteristics here described is encountered, we recommend that the diagnosis of olfactory neuroblastoma should be considered. Only in this way can the appropriate operative and postoperative therapy be qorreetly planned. The possible origins of the turnout are discussed i~ relation to the literature. Specific diagnostic features are mentioned and the therapy and prognosis are described.The only information about an olfactory neuroblastoma previously published in the neurosnrgical literature was written by a pathologist (Robinson). Because of its location in the upper nasal space and because the symptoms and signs concern the nose, the clinical contributions have appeared mainly in ENT-journals, also in pathological and radiologieal periodieMs. The name "Esthesioepitheliome olfaetif" chosen by Berger, Lue, and Richard suggests that the tumour cells originate from nerve elements of the peripheral olfactory system. If the turnout destroys the lamina eribrosa and expands into the intracranial space, then increasing intracranial pressure can become the 7*
