Intracranial Anaplastic Astrocytoma after Radiotherapy for Craniopharyngioma

ABSTRACT

The authors describe a case of 17-year-old male with anaplastic astrocytoma in the basal ganglia and brain stem 11 years after surgical excision and local irradiation(5480cGy) for craniopharyngioma. There is no recurrence at the primary tumor site. Because of a geometric coincidence between the tumor location and the radiation field, radiation therapy is strongly implicated as a cause of this anaplastic astrocytoma.