Coincidencia de la tomografía computadorizada monocorte con el examen anatomopatológico posquirúrgico en el diagnóstico de los tumores intracraneales primarios / Coincidence of the monoscan computed tomography with the postsurgical anatomopathological examination in the diagnosis of primary intracranial tumors

OBJETIVO: determinar la coincidencia de los resultados de la tomografía computadorizada monocorte en el diagnóstico anatomopatológico posquirúrigico de los tumores intracraneales primarios. MÉTODOS: se realizó un estudio descriptivo en 85 pacientes a quienes se les realizó diagnóstico tomográfico de tumor intracraneal primario y anatomopatológico posquirúrgico. RESULTADOS: el diagnóstico tomográfico coincidió con el anatomopatológico en un 87 por ciento de los casos. La tomografía computadorizada monocorte permitió en un elevado porcentaje el diagnóstico de los tumores intracraneales primarios. CONCLUSIONES: existe una elevada coincidencia en los resultados de la tomografía computadorizada monocorte con el examen anatomopatológico posquirúrgico en el diagnóstico de los tumores intracraneales primarios.

OBJECTIVE: to determine the coincidence of the monoscan computed tomography with the postsurgical anatomopathological examination in the diagnosis of primary intracranial tumors. METHODS: a descriptive study was conducted in 85 patients underwent tomography diagnosis of a primary intracranial tumor and also a postsurgical anatomopathological diagnosis. RESULTS: the tomography diagnosis coincided with the anatomopathological one in a 87 percent of cases. The monoscan computed tomography allowed in a high percentage to diagnose the primary intracranial tumors. CONCLUSIONS: there is a high coincidence of the results of monoscan computed tomography with the postsurgical anatomopathological examination as regards the diagnosis of primary intracranial tumors.

Double Primary Intracranial Tumors: Report of Two Cases

The simultaneous occurrence of multiple primary brain tumors of histologically different types is very rare, and accounts for only about 0.4% of all the primary brain tumors. Recently, we experienced two cases of double primary intracranial tumors in combinations of meningioma-glioblastoma and pituitary adenoma-lymphoma. First case is a 55-year-old woman who underwent surgery due to a mass in her left posterior parietal area detected by brain magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), and it was histologically confirmed as atypical meningioma. After radiation treatment, a new mass was detected in the right temporal lobe on follow-up MRI and glioblastoma was confirmed after the second operation. Second case is a 50-year-old woman who was found to have multiple masses in the suprasellar and right thalamic region. They were confirmed as pituitary adenoma and malignant lymphoma by transsphenoidal adenoidectomy (TSA) and stereotactic biopsy, respectively. Case 1 and 2 showed metachronous and synchronous development of secondary intracranial tumors, respectively. In case one, although the patient received radiotherapy, the radiation field was far from the second tumor and the latency period between irradiation and the appearance of the second tumor was too short. Therefore, in this case, we concluded that radiation did not play a major role in the development of the new tumor.

Oligodendroglioma in childhood

Fifteen pediatric (age under 16) cases of oligodendroglioma (ODG) were surgically proven from January 1985 to April 1992 at the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital. To observe the proportion of ODG's in primary intracranial tumors, the location of ODG's and the prognostic significance of the histological grading of ODG's in childhood, the 15 cases of pediatric ODG's were retrospectively analyzed. ODG's accounted for 5.6% of pediatric primary intracranial tumors operated on during the same period. Nine tumors were located in the cerebral hemisphere (3 cases each in the frontal, temporal and parietooccipital lobes), 1 in the thalamus, 2 in the pons-medulla, 2 in the cerebellum and 1 in the thoracolumbar spinal cord. Four tumors were anaplastic and an additional case showed positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology for tumor cells. All the cases of anaplasia or positive CSF cytology had a poor outcome. All the seven cases of benign ODG's in cerebral hemispheres presented with seizures which were controlled with or without medication after tumor removal.