Neuropathological changes were studied in a consecutive autopsy series of 135 cases, comprising 73% of all patients who died of AIDS in Switzerland between April 1981 and December 1987. Central nervous system involvement was found in 119 patients (88%), 19 of which had multiple concomitant intracerebral lesions. Among the non-viral opportunistic infections, encephalitis due to Toxoplasma gondii was most frequent and occurred in 35 patients (26%), followed by central nervous system infection with Cryptococcus neoformans, which was found in five patients (4%). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) encephalitis was present in 14 patients (10%). Disseminated microglial nodules without morphological or immunocytochemical evidence of CMV was encountered in 18 patients (13%). However, in all but two of these patients there was evidence of extracerebral CMV infection, suggesting that CMV was responsible for these nodular encephalitides. Nine patients (7%) had progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML); in five of these, demyelination was associated with extensive tissue destruction and cyst formation. HIV-associated encephalopathy was observed in 21 patients (16%) and showed two characteristic morphological patterns: progressive diffuse leukoencephalopathy (PDL) and multifocal giant cell encephalitis (MGCE). PDL was observed in 13 cases and characterized by diffuse pallor and gliosis of the cerebral and cerebellar white matter with scattered multinucleated giant cells, but without significant inflammatory response. MGCE was found in eight patients and characterized by clusters of numerous multinucleated giant cells, rod cells, macrophages, lymphocytic infiltrates and occasional necroses. In our view, PDL and MGCE represent the two opposite variants of HIV-induced encephalopathies, with overlapping intermediate manifestations.

Surgical specimens from 36 medulloblastomas (25 classic and 11 desmoplastic) were studied by peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) immunohistochemistry with antibodies against the class III beta-tubulin isotype (beta-tubulin), synaptophysin, retinal S-antigen (S-Ag), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). We found that neoplastic cells expressed beta-tubulin in 91% of the tumors (23 classic and 10 desmoplastic), synaptophysin in 75% (19 classic and 8 desmoplastic), S-Ag in 44% (11 classic and 5 desmoplastic), and GFAP in 11% of medulloblastomas (2 classic and 2 desmoplastic). Synaptophysin and beta-tubulin positivities were observed in undifferentiated neoplastic cells, in cells forming neuroblastic rosettes, and in pale islands, while S-Ag immunopositivity was noted in undifferentiated cells, occasionally in beta-tubulin-negative neuroblastic rosettes, and exceptionally in pale islands. Large pale islands, in two desmoplastic medulloblastomas, exhibited distinct patterns of immunoreactivity to the above markers, suggesting neuronal and glial differentiation in the central area, and intense neuritic development in the peripheral zone. Our findings confirm the predominant capacity of medulloblastoma cells to differentiate along neuronal cell lines and indicate that large pale islands, in desmoplastic medulloblastomas, represent well-organized areas for neuronal and, to a lesser degree, astroglial differentiation. Furthermore, it appears, in our cases, that immunohistochemical features do not represent clear-cut prognostic indicators in patients with medulloblastomas.

Two cases of Lhermitte-Duclos disease or diffuse hypertrophy of the cerebellum are presented. This brings the total number of such cases reported in the literature to 42. Pathologically the disease is characterized by a circumscribed cerebellar lesion consisting of thickening of the cortex with closely packed dysplastic ganglion cells in the granular layer and with large myelinated axons in the molecular layer. Purkinje cells are missing and the central white matter is greatly reduced. The first patient, a man 39 years of age, had in association to the cerebellar lesion, a megalencephalic brain (2320 g). He had suffered from epilepsy since he was 24-years-old and died with metastasizing colon carcinoma. An electron microscopic study of the cerebellar lesion disclosed perikarya containing large amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum, cell processes filled with coated and dense core vesicles. In addition, there were numerous enlarged myelinated axons in the molecular layer. The second patient, a woman 74 years of age, had a small area of diffuse hypertrophy of the left cerebellar hemisphere measuring one centimeter in diameter. Specific symptoms were very scant in the first case and absent in the second one indicating a very slow evolution - if any - of the disease process. The etiology and pathogenesis remain unknown. However, the organoid structure of the lesion, the frequent association of megalencephaly and other congenital abnormalities, and the occurrence of familiar cases would favor the disease being basically a developmental disorder.

A 40-year-old male developed a progressive neuropsychiatric illness and died 14 years later in a state of profound dementia and spastic tetraparesis. Pathologically, a primary dystrophic process of the centrum ovale had resulted in the formation of large periventricular cavities. The cerebellum was also involved. The case is viewed as a form of leucodystrophy of the sudanophil variety, although sudanophil lipids were scanty. Despite the lack of any obvious hereditary character in the case, a Löwenberg-Hill form of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease can also be considered a suitable diagnosis, provided one shares the view that Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (the classical type and its multiple subtypes as well), is nothing but another variant of sudanophil leucodystrophy. The latter is regarded as a morbid process rather than as a kind of disease entity. Little is thought of current nosologic labels based on crude clinico-pathological observations only infrequently supplemented with an adequate study of the pedigree and a sound chemical and ultrastructural investigation of the diseased tissues. Present-day ignorance of the exact etiopathogenesis makes it advisable to group under the heading ‘sudanophil leucodystrophy’ all such cases of endogenous white matter dystrophy, no matter how discrete the sudanophil character of the myelin breakdown may be and despite a broad spectrum of genetic, clinical and pathological variability.

A biopsy specimen of a cerebellar astrocytoma from a 14-year-old girl was studied by light and electron microscopy. Histologically the tumor showed a mixture of loose and compact areas with numerous Rosenthal fibers. By electron microscopy most tumor cells contained, besides the usual organelles, large amounts of 70 to 100 A thick filaments. Classical Rosenthal fibers were also identified. In addition many cell bodies and processes were sprinkled with fragments of Rosenthal fiber material. Ordered filamentous arrays (so-called Hirano bodies) were seen in a number of tumor astrocytes. They are considered to be a nonspecific arrangement of filament units largely devoid of cytopathologic significance. Other ultrastructural features of some tumor cells were inchoate forms of the granulated bodies of conventional histology, paired cisternal elements of rough endoplasmic reticulum, and honeycomb-like profiles of transversely cut cylindrical units of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Microtubular bodies were numerous in the endothelial cells of the tumor vessels.