The medulloblastoma is a tumor of the cerebellum, particulary common in children. Most of them in childhood are situated in the midline vermis, but in adults are in the lateral lobes. The authors reported two cases of medulloblastoma which developed in the midline vermis although the patients were adult, and reviewed with concerned articles.
Adult* ; Cerebellum ; Child ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma*

A case of cerebral glioma which was developed 5 years after brain irradiation for medulloblastoma is reported. The etiology and pathogenesis of human glioma are still unknown. The possible causal role of radiation therapy in inducing cerebral glioma is discussed on the basis of these observations.
Brain ; Child* ; Glioma* ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma

Intracranial tumor with extracranial metastasis has been seldom reported. A 28 year-old-male was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital in Daegu on May 9, 1977. Who was diagnosed to have a medulloblastoma in the right cerebellar hemisphere with metastases to the right axillary lymphnode and head of pancreas by pathological reports. In generally medulloblastoma with extracranial metastasis occurs very rarely in the cerebellar hemisphere, and especially in adulthood. Distant metastasis of the intracranial tumor is discussed with review of the literatures.
Daegu ; Head ; Medulloblastoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pancreas ; Protestantism

Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor rarely occurs in the CNS, though is most common in infants under two years of age. It is characterized by unique histologic features, has an extremely aggressive natural course, and is located mainly in the infratentorial region. Radiologically, it is difficult to distinguish from primitive neuroectodermal tumor or medulloblastoma. We report the radiologic findings of two cases of atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor.
Humans ; Infant ; Medulloblastoma ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive

Cerebellar Neoplasms ; ultrastructure ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma ; ultrastructure

The extraaxial presentation of medulloblastoma is a rare phenomenon. This article describes the case of 19-year old woman who presented with mild headache and nausea and was diagnosed with medulloblastoma. The tumor arose from the right cerebellar cortex, and it was misdiagnosed meningioma on the basis of radiological examination. We review the literature and discuss the such atypical presentation of medulloblastoma.
Cerebellar Cortex ; Female ; Headache ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma* ; Meningioma ; Nausea ; Young Adult

Arachnoid cysts are usually classified as developmental anomaly, inflammatory and traumatic in origin. Arachnoid cyst in posterior fossa occur frequently in the midline posterior to the cerebellum. These cyst usually present symptoms and signs due to increased intracranial pressure and may be confused with cerebellar or fourth ventricular tumor. Recently we had experienced a case of multiple retrocerebellar arachnoid cysts coexisted with pathologically confirmed desmoplastic medulloblastoma in eight months lod infant and reviewed the literatures.
Arachnoid Cysts* ; Arachnoid* ; Cerebellum ; Humans ; Infant ; Intracranial Pressure ; Medulloblastoma*

The majority of patients with medulloblastoma present with hydrocephalus. It has been reported, however, that not all medulloblastoma patients will continue to have hydrocephalus after the tumor is resected, and in fact, only selected patients need permanent shunts. To retrospectively identify the prognostic factors indicating this requirement, we analysed several charateristics in patients without preoperative shunts suffering from medulloblastoma combined with hydrocephalus. We studied 32 patients and divided them into two groups: those requiring shunts within 4 weeks of surgery, and those not shunted. Nine patients(28%) required a permanent shunt. We found that these patients were younger(4.8+/-4.3 vs. 9.6+/-7.4 years; p<0.05), had more extensive tumors (Chang's stage T2 vs. T3; p<0.050), and that postoperatively, some tumor remained(p<0.05). However, with regard to gender, symptoms of increasedintracranial pressure(ICP), the duration of these symptoms, positive cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) cytology, perioperative external ventricular drainage, and degree of preoperative hydrocephalus, there were no differences between the groups. It was thus concluded that younger patients with extensive preoperative tumors and tumors remaining after surgery may benefit from postoperative CSF diversion. It was thought that patients not fitting the above criteria can probably be managed with perioperative corticosteroids alone.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Drainage ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus* ; Medulloblastoma* ; Retrospective Studies

Treatment of cerebellar medulloblastoma has been much improved with modern surgical technique for gross total tumor removal and adequate radiation therapy for the whole craniospinal axis. Questions have been arosen about the optimal radiation dose for the preventive treatment of whole cranium and whole spinal axis. Recently, many authors have reported their treatment results as comparable to older data, using lower than conventional dose of 3,600cGy-4,000cGy. For 50 patients treated between 1981 and 1950 at the Department of Radiation Therapy of SNUH, retrospective analysis was done for the treatment result, especially the neuraxis control, by radiation dose for the presymptomatic area of the disease. Analysis only by total spinal dose did not give any significant difference. But further analysis by following patient group: 3,600cGy/150cGy (n=S), 3,000cGy/150cGy (n=10), 2,400 cGy/150cGy (n=17) and 2,400cGy/100-120cGy (n=11) showed significant improvement of neuraxis control by decreasing order (p=0.003). There was no significant difference in overall survival between the groups. For the 19 patients who had been confirmed initially as having no neuraxis disease, TDF 30 was the cur-off value that could prevent neuraxis failure (p=0.004). We couldn't define any TDF value that give reasonable control for the patient group with positive CSF study at initial diagnosis.
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma* ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors(PNETs) are composed of undifferentiated cells resembling germinal matrix cells of the embryonic neural tube. The concept of the primitive neuroectodermal tumors is controversial due to indistinct clinicopathologic entities. While some neuropathologists believe that the PNET concept should be applied to all these tumors with the addition of qualifying terms, the opponents of this approach believe this concept to be too simplistic and that well-established diagnostic entities should not be grouped together as a single entity. Four patients with PNET were reviewed. Although the PNETs bear some differences to posterior fossa medulloblastomas, we should be grouped together as a single pathologic entity because of their primitive nature. The purpose of this study is to review the similarties and differences between two tumors from their histologic and embryologic features.
Humans ; Medulloblastoma ; Neural Plate ; Neural Tube ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive*