Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor of temporoparietal region of brain mimicking as glioma: A rare case report

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) is exceedingly rare to occur intracerebrally. The incidence of this subtype is 0.001%. Their typical origin is from peripheral nerves of the limbs, trunk, and lumbar and brachial plexuses. It carries a poor prognosis despite aggressive management due to high chances of local recurrence. We present a case of MPNST occurring intracerebrally in a 60-year-old male patient. Imaging showed a 63 × 74 × 46 mm mass lesion in the left temporoparietal region with mass effect. The patient underwent left temporoparietal craniotomy with maximum gross resection of the tumor. Histopathology was suggestive of spindle cell neoplasm. On immunohistochemistry, cells were positive for S-100 and SOX-10, which were consistent with the diagnosis of MPNST. The post-operative contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed gross residual disease. Post-operative radiotherapy was given of intensity-modulated radiation therapy followed by chemotherapy of doxorubicin and ifosfamide

Assessment of Depression in Cancer Patients receiving Chemotherapy in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Cancer patients usually have variouspsychological complications, depression being the mostcommon among them. Depression poses difficulties incontinuing the prescribed treatment within the scheduledtime frame, ultimately affecting outcome. Study aimed todetermine the magnitude of depression and various factorsassociated with it, so as to initiate the timely intervention.Material and methods: Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale(BEDS) was used to major depression in 203 cancer patientsreceiving chemotherapy at Day Care Centre of the Departmentof Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College and attached groupof hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, and VCSG GovernmentInstitute of Medical Science and Research, Srinagar, Garhwal,Uttarakhand, India during 1-30 August, 2018, who wereabove 18 years of age, and could read, understand, and write,were selected. Association of depression with various factorslike name, age, sex, contact details, education and occupationdetails, income, marital status, history of other co-morbiddisease, type and site of cancer, presence of metastases,number of chemotherapy cycle going on, source of cost oftherapy, was also computed.Results: Out of 203 patients, depression was present in130 (64%) patients. Statistically significant association ofdepression was found with both extremes of the age (P = 0.04),paid treatment (P = 0.03) and less than four chemotherapycycle (P = 0.04). No significant association was seen betweendepression and gender, occupation, performance status, site ofcancer, presence of co-existing disease and metastases.Conclusions: BEDS is a easy and reliable method to measuredepression. Depression was present in 64% of patients, andwas significantly associated with both extremes of age,paid treatment, and less than four chemotherapy cyclesadministered.