Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor. Features in 16 patients

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour (DNT) is a newly recognized brain mass lesion with distinctive pathological features and a favourable prognosis. We reviewed the clinical, electroencephalographic, neuroimaging and pathological features of 16 patients with DNT who underwent surgery; only one patient did not have epilepsy. Mean age at seizure onset was 9.5 years (range: 1 week to 30 years) and surgery 17 years (range: 7 months to 37 years). The mean verbal IQ was 94.6 (range: 79-110) and performance IQ 105 (range: 79-130) (n = 10). The EEG was abnormal in all cases reviewed (n = 13): localized slow activity was seen in 12 and interictal spiking in 10 patients, being less extensive than or concordant with the lesion in three and more extensive than or distant to the lesion in seven. X-ray CT was normal in three out of 11 patients. Magnetic resonance imaging provided detailed anatomical information: the lesion was predominantly intracortical, although in six patients, there was also white matter involvement. The lesion involved the temporal lobe in all but one patient where it was in the cingulate gyrus. Of the temporal lobe cases, MRI showed that the lesion involved, or was in close proximity to, mesial temporal structures in 11 out of 14 patients. Other magnetic resonance features included: circumscribed hyperintensity on long TE/TR images (10 patients), hypointensity on short TR images (12 patients), and cyst formation (five patients). Calcification was seen on CT in four patients. Post surgical follow-up ranged from 8 to 30 months (mean 16.2 months): 12 patients are seizure free and two have a > 80% reduction in seizure frequency (n = 14). Histopathological characteristics included a heterogeneous composition in all cases, calcification (13 cases), dysplastic features (12 cases) and isolated foci of subpial spread (five cases). The presence of occasional mitoses in 12 cases and immunoreactivity to the proliferating cell nuclear antigen in six cases indicate that these lesions have cellular proliferative activity and that there may be a need to follow these patients postoperatively.