A patient is described in whom a large diffuse glioma of the pons extending into the midbrain was diagnosed at the age of 2 years. Biopsy showed a fibrillary astrocytoma. After shunting of a hydrocephalus, the clinical symptoms abated without conventional therapy. Repeated MRI studies showed a continuous decrease of the tumour which was no longer visible when the patient was 6.6 years old. In reviews on spontaneous remissions of oncologic disorders we were unable to find a case of a biologically benign brain stem tumour. There is one isolated report on a similar case, though without histologic documentation.

We describe an identical syndrome of cystic leukoencephalopathy in three Turkish children, including two siblings. The neurological findings were noted within the first months of life and include severe intellectual impairment, motor retardation, and spasticity. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed extensive cysts within the anterior temporal lobes, ventricular enlargement and white matter disease. The signal intensities of the cysts' content were identical to those of the cerebrospinal fluid. The patients' screening for known inborn errors of metabolism, especially those characterised by white matter involvement, did not reveal any abnormality. The clinical picture and the magnetic resonance imaging characteristics are unique diagnostic features of a new disease entity so far not described in the literature.