Adult cerebellar medulloblastoma: CT and MRI findings in eight cases

ABSTRACT

Medulloblastoma is a brain tumor of neuroepithelial origin, which represents 15 to 30 percent of all pediatric brain tumors, and less than 1 percent of CNS adult neoplasms. We report the imaging findings of 8 adult patients with medulloblastoma. The mean age was 35 years, ranging from 20 to 65 years, and the malefemale rate was 35. The tumors were predominantly lateral (63 percent), hyperdense on CT scans (83 percent), and on the MRI, hypointense on T1 (100 percent) and hyperintense on T2 (80 percent) weighted images. It was seen intratumoral necrosis and cysts in six cases and calcifications in three. Hydrocephalus was observed in 5 cases and brain stem invasion in four. The imaging findings of medulloblastomas in adults are different of those in child, and also nonspecific. Although these tumors are uncommon in adults, they must be considered in the differential diagnosis of cerebellar masses in the posterior fossa of this age group