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Acta Neuropathologica
Published in: Acta Neuropathologica 2/2004

01-08-2004 | Regular Paper

Clinico-pathological features of pilomyxoid astrocytoma of the optic pathway

Authors: Kanako Chikai, Akiko Ohnishi, Tsutomu Kato, Jun Ikeda, Yutaka Sawamura, Yoshinobu Iwasaki, Tomoo Itoh, Hirofumi Sawa, Kazuo Nagashima

Published in: Acta Neuropathologica | Issue 2/2004

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Abstract

Five cases of pilomyxoid astrocytoma (PmA) characterized by a monophasic pattern with a myxoid background were selected for a clinicopathological study from 23 cases previously diagnosed as pilocytic astrocytoma (PA). All PmA patients were either infants or young children (mean age 2.1 years), and all tumors were located in the optic chiasm/hypothalamus region. All cases received chemotherapy, which reduced tumor size, and the location of the tumor became confined to the optic chiasm. In two cases, tumor recurrence occurred 3 and 7 years after chemotherapy. Histology of the recurrent tumors showed the biphasic pattern of classical PA. Hence, we conclude that PmA might be an infantile form of PA and speculate that a subset of PmA in the optic pathway/hypothalamus originates from the optic chiasm, possibly derived from radial glia existing in the embryonic optic chiasm.
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Metadata
Title
Clinico-pathological features of pilomyxoid astrocytoma of the optic pathway
Authors
Kanako Chikai
Akiko Ohnishi
Tsutomu Kato
Jun Ikeda
Yutaka Sawamura
Yoshinobu Iwasaki
Tomoo Itoh
Hirofumi Sawa
Kazuo Nagashima
Publication date
01-08-2004
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Acta Neuropathologica / Issue 2/2004
Print ISSN: 0001-6322
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0533
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-004-0858-7

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