Case Report www.neurologyindia.com Intraventricular ganglioglioma with bleed: A rare case report Dhananjaya I. Bhat, Anita Mahadevan1, Ranjan Manish, Somanna Sampath, B. A. Chandramouli, S. K. Shankar1 Departments of Neurosurgery and 1Neuropathology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore – 560 029, India Address for correspondence: Dr. Dhananjaya I. Bhat, Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore 560 029, India. E-mail id: dibhat@rediffmail.com PMID: *** DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.65924 Abstract Gangliogliomas are benign lesions that are predominantly temporal in location and present with chronic epilepsy. Intraventricular gangliogliomas are extremely rare and still rarer is intratumoral hemorrhage. Till date only 9 cases of lateral ventricular gangliogliomas have been reported. To the best of our knowledge only 1 case of intratumoral hemorrhage has been reported. We report a rare case of lateral ventricular ganglioglioma with intratumoral hemorrhage in a 27-year-old man. Key words: Angioma, ganglioglioma, hemorrhage, intraventricular, synaptophysin Introduction Gangliogliomas are benign lesions that are predominantly temporal in location and present with often intractable seizures. Intraventricular location mimicking central neurocytoma is very rare. Only 9 cases have been reported in the literature till 2009.[1] We report here, a rare case of lateral ventricular ganglioglioma with intratumoral hemorrhage. hemorrhagic, firm, grayish, and attached to the septum. Histopathology examination of the resected mass showed a tumor with large focus of central hemorrhage walled in by tumor tissue of low cellularity with biphasic loose and compact glial zones [Figure 4a]. The central hemorrhagic zone was bordered by a leash of telangiectatic vessels along the periphery resembling an angioma [Figure 4b]. Case Report A 27-year-old man presented with a history of rapidly progressing severe headache with vomiting of 20 days duration, associated with blurring of vision and decreased recent memory of 15 days. Neurologic examination revealed papilledema and bilateral sixth nerve palsy. Cranial imaging, both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), showed an intraventricular lesion arising from the septum occupying the body of both the lateral ventricles causing obstructive hydrocephalus. The mass was predominantly hyperdense on plain CT scan [Figure 1]. On MRI image, the lesion was heterointense with multiple small cysts, iso- to hypointense on T1-weighted images with areas of hypoand hyperintensities on T2-weighted images suggestive of a lesion with subacute bleed [Figure 2a and b]. He underwent an interhemispheric transcallosal approach and total excision of the lesion [Figure 3]. The lesion was Neurology India | May-Jun 2010 | Vol 58 | Issue 3 Figure 1: Computed tomography scan plain axial showing a hyperdense intraventricular lesion 477 Bhat, et al.: Intraventricular ganglioglioma with bleed a b c Figure 2: Magnetic resonance imaging T1 coronal (a) and T2 coronal (b) showing a heterointense lesion iso- to hyperintense on T1-weighted, with areas of hypo- and hyperintensities on T2-weighted image localization of synaptophysin were seen [Figure 4h]. These ganglionic cells showed dystrophic intracytoplasmic accumulation of the phosporylated neurofilament [Figure 4i]. The mitotic activity was very low (MIB-1 labeling index of 1%). The features were characteristic of a ganglioglioma with angiomatous component causing intratumoral hemorrhage. Postoperatively, the patient had a wound bulge and became progressively drowsy. Repeat CT scan showed ventriculomegaly for which a right ventriculoperitoneal shunt was done. Following surgery, he had improvement in sensorium and at discharge from the hospital, he was conscious, and alert with improvement in recent memory. He was not subjected to any adjuvant therapy, as the tumor had been totally excised. Discussion Figure 3: Postop computed tomography showing complete excision of the lesion Calcification and ferrugination of small vessels were seen along the fibrous capsule of the hematoma [Figure 4c], reflecting the chronic nature of the lesion. The tumor cells had round to elongate bare vesicular nuclei dispersed in a fibrillary background with several eosinophilic granular bodies [Figure 4d]. The cells showed biphenotypic differentiation with several cells expressing glial fibrillary acid protein within the cytoplasm and fibrillary processes [Figure 4e], whereas others revealed a nuclear and cytoplasmic expression for the neuronal marker, Neu N [Figure 4f]. In addition, scattered large uni- or binucleate ganglionic cells with eccentric nuclei and prominent nucleoli [Figure 4g] that revealed aberrant membrane 478 Gangliogliomas are rare central nervous system tumors and account for approximately 2% of all the brain tumors. They are composed of dysplastic neuronal and neoplastic glial components. Most of the patients present in the first 3 decades of life with chronic epilepsy. Although the most frequent intracranial location is the temporal lobe, other locations in order of frequency include frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and rarely in the brain stem, optic chiasm, pineal region, and spinal cord.[2] A lateral ventricular location, however, is extremely rare and the first case report was by Majos and colleagues in 1998.[3] Till 2009, only 9 cases of lateral ventricular ganglioglioma have been described.[1] Neuroimaging of ganglioglioma shows a solid (43–50%), cystic (5%), or solid–cystic (32–52%) mass lesion typically located in the periphery of cerebral hemispheres. On an average about half of these tumors have cysts, calcifications, and enhancement, but hemorrhage is rare and has been reported only once.[2,4] Interestingly, our Neurology India | May-Jun 2010 | Vol 58 | Issue 3 Bhat, et al.: Intraventricular ganglioglioma with bleed a b c d e f g h i Figure 4: Histopathologic examination showed a low-grade glial tumor with compact and loose microcystic zones (a) Center of the tumor showed large foci of hemorrhage with telangiectatic vessels (b) Hematoma was walled in by a fibrous capsule, along which capillaries show calcification of the walls (c) Glial zones show tumor cells with vesicular elongate nuclei embedded in fibrillary background (d) with eosinophilic granular bodies. Dual population of cells expressing glial fibrillary acid protein (e) and neuronal labeling with Neu N (f) is seen intermingled in these foci. Scattered large uni/binucleate ganglionic cells (g, arrows) with prominent nucleoli show aberrant synaptophsyin (h, arrows) and neurofilament expression (i, arrows) representing ganglionic component. [a–c: HE ×80, d: HE ×240, e: GFAP ×320, f: Neu N ×240, g: HE ×280, h: Synaptophysin ×280, i: Neurofilament ×280]. patient had large areas of bleed, identified on imaging as well as on histopathology. Grossly gangliogliomas are solid grayish, firm, and granular or cystic with an admixture of glial cells and neurons. The ganglion cells are recognized by their large size, bizarre shape, vesicular nuclei, and prominent nucleoli with positive staining for synaptophysin or neurofilament protein. The neoplastic glial cells may be either astrocytic or oligodendrocytic that dictate the grading and biologic behavior of the tumor. These tumors are most often Grade I, malignant transformation with mitotic activity, and necrosis being rare.[2] In the present Neurology India | May-Jun 2010 | Vol 58 | Issue 3 case, numerous telangiectatic vessels resembling an angioma were seen bordering the hematoma, which might be responsible for the intratumoral hemorrhage. In intraventricular locations, subependymal giant cell astrocytomas are commonly associated with hemorrhage from the angiomatous component that often accompanies the tumor. Although an angiomatous component was identifiable, characteristic giant cells with variable glial and neuronal expression as seen in subependymal giant cell astrocytoma were not seen in our case. Furthermore, eosinophilic granular bodies accompanying the pilocytic astrocytoma component of the tumor is not a feature of subependymal giant cell astrocytomas. 479 Bhat, et al.: Intraventricular ganglioglioma with bleed The role of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy for these benign tumors is controversial and usually reserved for those with disease progression, malignant lesions, or for recurrences that are not amenable for surgery.[4] 3. 4. References 1. 2. 480 Samdani AF, Torre-Healy A, Khalessi A, McGirt M, Jallo GI, Carson B. Intraventricular ganglioglioma: a short illustrated review. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 2009;151:635-40. Becker AJ, Wiestler OD, Branger F, Blumcke I. Ganglioglioma and Gangliocytoma. In: Louis DN, Ohgaki H, Wiestler OD, Cavenee WK, editors. WHO Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous System. 4th ed. France: IARC; 2007. p. 103-5. Majos C, Aguilera C, Ferrer I, Lopez L, Pons LC. Intraventricular ganglioglioma: Case report. Neuroradiology 1998;40:377-9. Im SH, Chung CK, Cho BK, Wang KC, Yu IK, Song IC, et al. Intracranial ganglioglioma: Preoperative characteristics and oncologic outcome after surgery. J Neurooncol 2002;59:173 -83. Accepted on 08-06-2010 Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared. Neurology India | May-Jun 2010 | Vol 58 | Issue 3 Copyright of Neurology India is the property of Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.