Glial differentiation in medulloblastoma. Case report

A 30-year-old man suffered for a year of a typical syndrome of cerebellar tumor. At suboccipital craniectomy a soft tumor infiltrating both hemispheres and vermis, filling up part of the IV ventricle was found. After subtotal removal of the neoplasm the postoperative course was poor and the patient died 5 weeks later. Biopsy material consisted of three types of tissue: 1. large nests of carrot-shaped, hyperchromatic cells, 2. fields of "halo" cells presenting myelin basic protein (MBP) immunoreactivity and 3. fields and scattered strongly GFAP-positive cells. The histological and immunocytochemical pattern of the neoplasm indicates differentiation of the tumor into oligodendrogliomatous and astrocytomatous line being an uncommon example of dual glial differentiation capability in medulloblastoma.