Sixteen patients were identified. Mean age of presentation was 8.8. An increased frequency of complications was observed in younger patients and longer survival rates in patients with greater resections; main mode of presentation was directly related to intracranial hypertension; size of tumor was not related to evolution or outcome. Modern histological classifications especially designed for children are deemed necessary to accurately diagnose GBM.

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The precise and diligent evaluation of a lesion caused by an animal bite may prevent further life-endangering complications. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports about cerebellar abscess caused by a dog bite. When cranial lesions are penetrating, an abscess must to be considered. We insist on the importance of medical evaluation and adequate treatment of such lesions.

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Background: Astrocytomas are cancer tumors of the central nervous system and represent the most common type of solid tumors during human childhood. In 2016, the World Health Organization established a molecular classification system to regroup tumor entities to achieve a more accurate diagnosis and a better clinical decision-making and selection of treatment in patients with these types of tumors. Methods: We evaluated a genotyping assay for rapid and cost-effective mutation detection in astrocytomas using TaqMan probes in an asymmetric polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Results: Four diffuse astrocytomas (Grade II), three anaplastic astrocytomas (Grade III), and four glioblastomas (Grade IV) were sequenced, and all of them displayed the wild-type (WT) sequence. We tried to set up this melting analysis for the genotyping of pediatric astrocytomas by identifying the specific melting temperatures of the TaqMan probes due to the presence of the WT sequences in the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (IDH1 and IDH2) and H3.3 histone A genes (H3F3A). We used an IDH1-Ta-qMan probe to identify the WT status of IDH1 in two different WT deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) templates (pilocytic and diffuse astrocytoma) and obtained four melting temperature values ranged from 65.6 to 92.2°C. Furthermore, only four out of 29 reactions displayed amplification of the DNA template. Sanger sequencing was faster and more reliable to detect the gene status in all the sequenced samples. Conclusions: We conclude that conventional Sanger sequencing remains the gold standard for the genotyping of pediatric astrocytomas.