Astroblastomas are uncommon neuroepithelial tumors of uncertain origin. These occur predominantly in the cerebral hemisphere of young adults and children. They form only 0.45–2.8% of all neuroglial tumors. They can be easily misdiagnosed as they are rarely encountered in clinical practice and share common radiological and histopathologic appearance with other glial neoplasms. A 12-year-old female presented to us with progressive headache and diplopia. Her neurological examination showed right 6th nerve paresis with papilledema. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed well-demarcated, peripherally enhancing solid cystic mass of 6 cm in right parietal lobe with mass effect. She underwent gross total resection of the lesion through right parietal craniotomy. The histopathologic diagnosis was suggestive of low-grade astroblastoma. The patient had no evidence of recurrence of tumor without adjuvant radiotherapy during the last 14 months of follow-up. Supratentorial astroblastomas are very rare tumors. Complete excision without radiotherapy is sufficient in low-grade variants.

We present a case of 24-year-old male presented with low back pain radiating to the left lower limb, tingling numbness and weakness of 6 months duration. Magnetic resonance imaging scan with contrast reveals an extradural mass at lumbosacral region. Patient was operated with laminectomy and complete excision of the lesion was done. Patient's radicular pain relieved following the surgery and weakness also improved. Histopathology was suggestive of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Patient received chemotherapy which was followed by radiotherapy. Primary Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the lumbosacral spinal epidural tissue is an uncommon lesion. Lymphoma involves the central nervous system in 5-11% of cases either at presentation of the disease or during its course. The spinal epidural tissue is involved primarily in 0.1-3.3% of cases with spinal cord compression being the commonest presentation. Excision of the lesion followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy is required to achieve cure.

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Conus-cauda syndrome is caused due to involvement of the lower end of the spinal cord and arising bunch of nerve roots. It is caused commonly due to traumatic injury, spinal stenosis, spinal tumors, inflammatory, and infectious conditions, but paraganglioma is a rare cause. These tumors are rarely functional and secrete catecholamine. Till now only five case reports of functional spinal paragangliomas are available to the best of our knowledge. We report a 50-year-old hypertensive male patient with a lobulated lesion extending from lower border of D12 to L2, which was reported as ependymoma on imaging studies done preoperatively. This lesion was confirmed to be a functional paraganglioma postoperatively after the patient died because of its furious complication, thus highlighting the importance of its preoperative diagnosis and management. In conclusion conus-cauda functional paragangliomas are very rare entity. Diagnosing them in preoperative condition is critical from the therapeutic point of view, both medical and surgical. During surgery these tumors should be handled very gently to avoid spillage of catecholamines into blood. These tumors require assistance of expert anesthetist and endocrinologist in the perioperative period.

Objective:To report a rare case of basal encephalocele (spheno-orbital encephalocele), managed successfully in our institute. This is one of the rarest type of encephaloceles with very little literature available. In this case, sphenoid dysplasia was not associated with type 1 Neurofibromatosis.Settings:Grant Medical College and Sir J.J Group of Hospitals, Byculla, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.Methods:A 22 year old male presented with a history of protrusion of right eye since the age of 7 years followed by progressive diminution of vision in the same eye for 5 months. MRI scan was suggestive of sphenoid dysplasia with herniation of right fronto-temporal lobe. The patient was operated upon with right frontal craniotomy with excision of encephalocele and repair of skull base. Subsequently, the patient underwent plastic surgery for facial skin remodeling.Results:Patient's encephalocele reduced completely after excision and repair with good cosmetic results and no neurological deficits. There is no evidence of recurrence till recent follow-up.Conclusion:Basal encephaloceles are very rare. Complete excision of encephalocele with repair of the defect should be the aim to achieve cure.