Secretory meningioma, a histologic subtype of meningioma of World Health Organization grade 1, is clinically significant because it is frequently accompanied by peritumoral brain edema. The patient was a 53-year-old woman suffering from dysarthria and motor weakness of the right arm. Enhanced magnetic resonance images showed an enhancing mass measuring 2.5 cm in size located in the right parietal convexity. Intraoperative squash cytology showed moderately cellular smears composed mainly of clusters of ovoid cells with scattered whorl formations. The cells had round nuclei and a moderate amount of eosinophilic cytoplasm with ill-defined cell borders. Neither atypia nor mitosis was observed. Some scattered round shaped eosinophilic refractile hyaline globules, measuring from 5 to 25 microm, were observed, and a periglobular halo was occasionally observed. The diagnosis of secretory meningioma should be made as early as possible so that neurosurgeons can prevent postoperative aggravation of peritumoral edema. We emphasize that cytologic findings including eosinophilic, non-fibrillary cytoplasm with eosinophilic refractile hyaline globules are helpful in differentiating secretory meningioma from other subtypes of meningioma, primary and metastatic brain tumors.
Arm ; Brain ; Brain Edema ; Brain Neoplasms ; Cytoplasm ; Diagnosis ; Dysarthria ; Edema ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Meningioma* ; Middle Aged ; Mitosis ; Rabeprazole ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND: Pathologic diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms is made by comparing light microscopic, immunohistochemical, and molecular cytogenetic findings with clinicoradiologic observations. Intraoperative frozen cytology smears can improve the diagnostic accuracy for CNS neoplasms. Here, we evaluate the diagnostic value of cytology in frozen diagnoses of CNS neoplasms. METHODS: Cases were selected from patients undergoing both frozen cytology and frozen sections. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated. RESULTS: Four hundred and fifty-four cases were included in this retrospective single-center review study covering a span of 10 years. Five discrepant cases (1.1%) were found after excluding 53 deferred cases (31 cases of tentative diagnosis, 22 cases of inadequate frozen sampling). A total of 346 cases of complete concordance and 50 cases of partial concordance were classified as not discordant cases in the present study. Diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative frozen diagnosis was 87.2%, and the accuracy was 98.8% after excluding deferred cases. Discrepancies between frozen and permanent diagnoses (n = 5, 1.1%) were found in cases of nonrepresentative sampling (n = 2) and misinterpretation (n = 3). High concordance was observed more frequently in meningeal tumors (97/98, 99%), metastatic brain tumors (51/52, 98.1%), pituitary adenomas (86/89, 96.6%), schwannomas (45/47, 95.8%), high-grade astrocytic tumors (47/58, 81%), low grade astrocytic tumors (10/13, 76.9%), non-neoplastic lesions (23/36, 63.9%), in decreasing frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Using intraoperative cytology and frozen sections of CNS tumors is a highly accurate diagnostic ancillary method, providing subtyping of CNS neoplasms, especially in frequently encountered entities.
Brain Neoplasms ; Central Nervous System Neoplasms ; Central Nervous System ; Cytogenetics ; Diagnosis ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Meningeal Neoplasms ; Methods ; Neurilemmoma ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies