Patterns of brain infiltration and secondary structure formation in supratentorial ependymal tumors

Ependymomas are generally considered to be noninfiltrative tumors that have discrete borders with adjacent brain tissue. Most occur in the posterior fossa or spinal cord. Supratentorial ependymal tumors arise near the ventricular system or, more rarely, within the cerebral white matter or cortex. Presented here are 6 supratentorial ependymal tumors, 3 that primarily involve the cerebral cortex and 3 that extend into the cortex from the underlying white matter. By microscopy, all of these tumors locally infiltrate the cortex and/or white matter along small blood vessels and axonal fiber tracts. They also form other glioma secondary structures including perineuronal tumor cell satellitosis and subpial tumor cell mounds. The 3 cortical ependymal tumors show a spectrum of features ranging from conventional and clear-cell ependymoma-like patterns to more angiocentric glioma-like histology. Because ependymal tumors generally have a significantly better prognosis than other infiltrating gliomas, recognition of their capacity to infiltrate adjacent cortex and white matter is important to prevent the misdiagnosis of oligodendroglioma, astrocytoma, or infiltrating glioma, not otherwise specified. Cortical ependymomas and angiocentric gliomas may comprise a group of locally infiltrative ependymal tumors that are associated with an excellent prognosis after gross total surgical resection.