Giant cystic primary cerebral neuroblastoma in a child and solid primary cerebral neuroblastoma in an adult: two case reports.

Primary cerebral neuroblastoma is a rare entity in neurosurgical practice. They occur primarily in young children and are extremely rare in adults. Primary cerebral neuroblastoma is one of a group of highly malignant undifferentiated primitive neuroectodermal tumours arising from germinal matrix cells of the embryonic neural tube. They are difficult to diagnose preoperatively and pathologically. We present two cases of primary cerebral neuroblastoma.

Primary intraspinal primitive neuroectodermal tumor: case report of a tumor arising from the sacral spinal nerve root and review of the literature.

Primary spinal primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is a rare condition, 18 cases of which have been reported in the literature. In general, this tumor is treated with surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but prognosis is still poor. An 18-year-old female patient with an intradural, extramedullary mass at L3-L5 levels is presented in this report. This is the first female patient with primary spinal PNET at lumbar region, second patient with spinal nerve root origin, and third one with intradural, extramedullary localization ever reported in the literature. After surgery, she was treated with craniospinal radiotherapy and four cycles of combination chemotherapy regimen consisting of vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin alternated with ifosfamide, and VP-16. Currently, she is asymptomatic and alive at 25 months. The histopathologic, radiologic, and clinical findings of the patient are presented and relevant literature is reviewed.