Radiation-induced glioma of the spinal cord

We report a case of a radiation-induced spinal cord glioma. A 20-year-old girl presented with neck pain and new significant neurological deficits 17 years after resection of a posterior fossa medullomyoblastoma and subsequent craniospinal irradiation. She was found to have a cervical intramedullary tumor that was resected using a standard microsurgical technique. The permanent histopathological diagnosis was anaplastic astrocytoma. Her neurological status was worse immediately following the operation. She improved to her pre-operative status, but then had a relentless neurological decline resulting in death 16 weeks following surgery. Because of the high incidence of malignancy in the few radiation-induced spinal cord gliomas reported in the literature, and the poor outcome independent of therapy in patients with malignant spinal cord gliomas, an initial strategy of biopsy only may be more appropriate than attempted resection for the patient with a suspected radiation-induced intramedullary spinal cord tumor.