Dorsally exophytic glioblastoma of the pons

• Published in: BMJ case reports 2019-04, Vol.12 (4), p.e228105
• Main Authors: Negreiros, Marco Antonio, Batista, Fred Franklin, Cottar, Shaeanny Bianchini, Acioly, Marcus André
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Brain cancer; Brain Stem - diagnostic imaging; Brain Stem - pathology; Brain Stem Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Brain Stem Neoplasms - pathology; Brain Stem Neoplasms - therapy; Case reports; Chemoradiotherapy; Cranial Nerve Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Cranial Nerve Diseases - etiology; Cranial Nerve Diseases - physiopathology; Fatal Outcome; Glioblastoma - diagnostic imaging; Glioblastoma - pathology; Glioblastoma - therapy; Glioma; Humans; Hydrocephalus - physiopathology; Intracranial Hemorrhages - physiopathology; Male; Medical prognosis; Middle Aged; Neuroimaging; Neurological disorders; Neurosurgery; Neurosurgical Procedures - methods; Patients; Pons - diagnostic imaging; Pons - pathology; Radiation therapy; Rare Disease; Surgery; Time Factors; Tumors; Volumetric analysis
• ISSN: 1757-790X; 1757-790X
• DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2018-228105

Brainstem gliomas are rare tumours in adults, accounting for only 1%–2% of all intracranial gliomas. They are recognised as a heterogeneous group, in which most are malignant tumours. Brainstem gliomas are classified into four major groups according to the growth pattern on imaging, namely diffuse, focal, exophytic and cervicomedullary. Such a classification system is also useful for surgical decision making. The exophytic variant is extremely rare having anecdoctal reports in the literature. We report the case of an adult patient affected by an exophytic glioblastoma of the pons, which was submitted to subtotal resection followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy with a longer overall survival. To the best of our knowledge, this is the seventh adult patient reported of an exophytic brainstem glioblastoma.