Squash Cytology of Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma Mimicking Glioblastoma

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma: Report of a case diagnosed by intraoperative cytopathological examination

“…CT scan may show a welldefined, contrast-enhanced hypodense supratentorial lesion in the cortex, as shown in the present report. 5 Pleomorphic and giant cells are promptly seen, which may show fibrillary astrocytic cytoplasmic processes and even vacuolated cytoplasm. 3 PXA is a slow-growing tumor with a normally low proliferative index, as shown in our case.…”

Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma: Natural History and Long‐Term Follow‐Up

“…In the last 15 years, the rare nature of PXA has resulted in a slowly growing literature restricted to well-documented case reports of classic examples (35, 63), classic examples with unusual clinical presentation/course (2, 8, 12, 21, 40, 48, 67) or in uncommon locations (3, 11, 19, 27, 45, 55, 60, 72), rare morphological variants (9, 18, 52, 54, 59, 65, 70), biphasic combined/collision tumors (1, 6, 15, 16, 25, 28, 31, 51, 61, 73), as well as a few small series (17, 20, 29, 38, 39, 42, 47, 53, 58, 62) and reviews (32, 42, 64, 68). Currently, WHO grading of so-called “PXA-AF” remains undefined, and it is still unclear whether these rare tumors should be termed “anaplastic” (WHO grade III).…”

Letters To The Editors

“…[6][7][8] The cytologic findings in the present case were compared with those of 3 previous case reports. [6][7][8] Pleomorphic giant tumor cells and absence of mitoses were mentioned in all 4 cases. Intranuclear inclusions, absence of necrotic debris and lack of endothelial proliferation were each mentioned in 3 cases.…”

“…The identification of granular bodies in the smears is a helpful clue; the presence of granular bodies indicates a slowly growing tumor, such as PXA, pilocytic astrocytoma and gangliocytic tumors. 2,7 The finding of xanthomatous tumor cells cannot be regarded as a diagnostic clue to PXA because a similar finding has been observed in other types of astrocytic tumors, including glioblastoma. 9 …”