[An autopsy case of medulloblastoma with massive hemorrhage]

Hemorrhage in medulloblastoma is reported to be extremely rare. This is an autopsy report documenting massive hemorrhage in medulloblastoma in an 11-year-old girl. She had a 3-week history of headache, vomiting and a tendency to fall to the left side, and suddenly developed respiratory arrest followed by coma. At autopsy, there were marked upward herniation of the anterior vermis and left cerebellar hemisphere and downward herniation of the cerebellar tonsils. Horizontal sections through the cerebellum showed a large tumor with a hematoma involving the entire vermis and left part of the cerebellar hemisphere. The histopathological diagnosis was medulloblastoma and no significant changes of tumor vessels were observed. Upward herniation played a significant role in the hemorrhage in this particular case. The presence of upward herniation was not described in the previously reported three autopsy cases of medulloblastoma with hemorrhage.