Brain Tumors Flashcards
Glioblastoma multiforme
(grade IV astrocytoma)
Cerebral hemispheres
Can cross corpus callosum
GFAP +
Pseudopalisading pleomorphic tumor cells border central areas of necrosis and hemorrhage
Oligodendrogioma
MC: Frontal lobes
Chicken-wire capillary pattern
Fried egg cells
Often calcified
Meningioma
Benign
Extra-axial: Near brain surfaces, parasagittal
Dural attachment (tail)
Present: Seizures, focal neurologic signs
Origin: Arachnoid cells
Spindle cells concentrically arranged in whorled pattern
Psammoma bodies
Hemangioblastoma
MC: Cerebellar
Association: von Hippel-Lindau syndrome when found with retinal angiomas
Can produce EPO (creating secondary polycythemia)
Blood vessel origin
Closely arranged, think-walled capillaries with minimal intervening parenchyma
Pituitary adenoma
Lactotrophs → hyperprolactinemia
Somatotrophs (GH) → acromegaly, gigantism
Corticotrophs (ACTH) → Cushing’s disease
Bitemporal hemianopia
Hyper or hypopituitarism, which may be caused by pituitary apoplexy
Schwannoma
Often localized to CN VIII in internal acoustic meatus
Cerebellopontine angle (but can be along any peripheral nerve)
Bilateral vestibular schwannomas in NF-2
S-100 +
Pilocytic (low-grade) astrocytoma
MC children; usually found in posterior fossa (cerebellum)
Benign; good prognosis
Glial cell origin
GFAP+
Rosenthal fibers - eosinophilic, corkscrew fibers
Cystic + solid mural nodule (gross)
Medulloblastoma
MC malignant brain tumor in childhood
MC involves cerebellum
Can compress 4th ventricle → non-communicating hydrocephalus
Drop metastases to spinal cord
Homer-Wright rosettes, small blue cells
Ependymoma
MC found in 4th ventricle → non-communicating hydrocephalus
Perivascular rosettes
Rod-shaped blepharoplasts (basal ciliary bodies) found near nucleus
Poor prognosis
Craniopharyngioma
MC childhood supratentorial
Bitemporal hemianopia
Derived from Rathke pouch remnant
Calcification common
Cholesterol crystals found in “motor oil”-like fluid within tumor
Pinealoma
Parinaud syndrome
Non-communicating hydrocephalus
Precocious puberty in males (beta-hCG production)
Similar to germ cell tumors (testicular seminoma)
