Clinicopathological features in the recurrence of oligodendroglioma and diffuse astrocytoma

To investigate whether grade II oligodendroglioma was transformed to glioblastoma or not, histopathological evaluation of recurrent oligodendrogliomal tumors (OG) and diffuse astrocytomas (DA) was performed. The OG group was composed of ten patients with OG, including seven oligodendrogliomas and three oligoastrocytomas. The DA group was composed of ten patients with DA, including eight fibrillary astrocytomas and two gemistocytic astrocytomas. The histopathological parameters of glioblastoma including nuclear atypia, multinucleated giant cells, glomeruloid tufts (GT) as a marker of microvascular proliferation, necrosis, and the Ki-67 staining index were investigated. Evaluation of these parameters was scored as follows: 0, none; 1, sporadic; 2, partial; 3, extensive. There were no cases of transformation to glioblastoma in the OG group. There were five cases of transformation to secondary glioblastoma in the DA group. In recurrent tumors, scores of GT and necrosis in the OG group were significantly lower than those in the DA group (p < 0.005). Nuclear atypia and high proliferative activity (Ki-67 index) were identified in recurrent tumors of the OG group. Our study suggested that the extent of GT and necrosis in recurrent OG was less than that in recurrent DA, and transformation to glioblastoma from oligodendroglial tumor was exceptional.