Giant cell glioblastoma in 6‐year‐old kid: Report of an unusual case

Abstract

Pediatric brain tumors, the most common solid tumors in children, stand second among all childhood malignancies. Supratentorial tumors are more common in early ages of life and early adolescence, whereas infra-tentorial tumors such as ependymoma and medulloblastoma are more common in between these age groups. 1 Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common glial tumor of the brain associated with high mortality and morbidity; nevertheless, the giant cell glioblastoma (GCG) subtype, an unusual variant of glioblastoma is distinct in features on histopathology and supposedly has a better prognosis. Recent studies report for an incidence of 1% in adults and 3% in children among all glioblastoma cases. We report a case of GCG in a 6-year-old boy along with a review of relevant literature. 2 | CASE REPORT A 6-year-old young school-going boy presented to the emergency department with a history of holocranial and

Giant-cell glioblastoma in a child: A rare case report and literature review

“…GCG, previously called monstrocellular BT, mainly occurs in adults, but a decade before that of GBM [6]. It is extremely rare in pediatric patients.…”

Challenges in the Histopathologic Diagnosis of Brain Tumors: An Institutional Experience in a Series of Cases

“…However, established evidence in favor is lacking. 16 Due to its rarity, definitive surgical management protocol for this tumor is not well known. Maximum safe resection and adjuvant radiotherapy can improve survival rate from 5 to 13 months, similar to glioblastoma multiforme patients.…”

Morphogenetic and Imaging Characteristics in Giant Cell Glioblastoma

“…This tumor entity is more common in the pediatric population and approximately 100 cases have been identified so far [ 6 ]. Extremely rare are the cases found in the adult population, usually detected in people under 40 years of age, especially in males [ 3 , 6 ]. In our case, the presence of giant cell glioblastoma was in a woman in the sixth decade of life.…”

“…The clinical presentation is unsuggestive and can be confused with the symptoms of an infectious or inflammatory disease, which happened in our case, the initial diagnosis being encephalitis [ 8 ]. The clinical picture may suggest an expansive intracranial process that may be eloquent from the onset of the disease or over time by the appearance of manifestations such as seizures or paresis (50% of cases) [ 6 ].…”

“…The immunonegativity of EMA and NeuN was indicated by the study of Shrestha S. et al, the last marker having as a role the differential diagnosis of a pleomorphic xantoastrocytoma [ 6 ]. Thus, the differential diagnosis should be made with pleomorphic xantoastrocytomas, which resemble the macroscopically well-defined appearance, the presence of giant cells, but differs by the presence of macrophages and immunopositivity to neuronal nuclear antigen, neurofilament protein, and synaptophysin [ 12 ].…”