Intraventricular Neurocytomas

ABSTRACT

The clinical and pathological features of five patients with intraventricular neurocytoma are reported. Distribution among men and women is equal. The patients' age at diagnosis ranged from 20 to 57 years. The lesions were located in the lateral and third ventricles. Raised intracranial pressure was the main cause of the clinical manifestations. An isodense mass with multiple intratumoral cysts and homogeneous contrast enhancement was the characteristic computerized tomographic finding. Cerebral angiography showed homogeneous vascular staining in four patients. Magnetic resonance images revealed a mass isointense with the cerebral cortex on both T1- and T2-weighted images. Gadolinium-diethylenetnaminepenta-acetic acid-enhanced images showed homogeneous enhancement. Total removal of the tumor was performed in five patients. Histologically, all tumors were composed of small uniform cells with perinuclear halo and regular round nuclei. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated strong positivity for neuron-specif ic enolase in all five cases and for synaptophysin in two cases.