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Published on: June 28, 2024
A 37-Year-Old Saudi Man with a Calcified Intraventricular Astrocytoma
Maryam Abdullah Al Saleem1, Noor Said Alsafwani1, Tarek Mohammad ElSharkawy1
1Department of Pathology, King Fahd Hospital of University, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Pilocytic astrocytoma, a common childhood brain tumor, rarely occurs in adults within the brain ventricles. This case highlights an unusual intraventricular pilocytic astrocytoma in a 37-year-old man, emphasizing diagnostic challenges.
Area of Science:
- Neuro-oncology
- Pediatric Neurosurgery
- Neuropathology
Background:
- Pilocytic astrocytoma is a common, slow-growing, low-grade glioma predominantly found in children.
- Typically located in the posterior fossa (infratentorial), pilocytic astrocytoma can occur throughout the central nervous system and may exhibit calcification.
Abstract:
BACKGROUND Pilocytic astrocytoma is a low-grade glioma that is common in children. Pilocytic astrocytoma is a slow-growing neoplasm that may calcify and occurs throughout the central nervous system, but it has a preference to be located infratentorial in children. CASE REPORT Herein, we report an unusual intraventricular location of pilocytic astrocytoma with extensive calcification in a 37-year-old Saudi man who mainly presented with a headache. Although pilocytic astrocytoma can arise throughout the central nervous system, it very rarely arises from the ventricles, especially the lateral ventricle. CONCLUSIONS The majority of intraventricular tumors arise within the third and fourth ventricles. The unusual intraventricular location and the unexpected age group are the main difficulties in diagnosing an adult with intraventricular pilocytic astrocytoma. Intraventricular pilocytic astrocytoma can be missed radiologically and misled pathologically; therefore, it should be considered within the differential diagnosis of intraventricular tumors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case to be reported in Saudi Arabia.
