Extra-axial anaplastic astroblastoma in a 67-year-old woman

Neuropathology. 2019 Aug;39(4):307-312. doi: 10.1111/neup.12565. Epub 2019 Jun 17.

Abstract

Astroblastoma is a rare glial neoplasia of the central nervous system. It is histologically defined by the presence of neoplastic cells with non- or slightly tapering processes arranged around blood vessels (astroblastic rosettes) and conventionally subdivided into well-differentiated and anaplastic. It commonly affects children and young adults, although cases and due to its superficial location in the brain cortex, it can mimic an extra-axial mass on magnetic resonance imagining. Herein, we describe a unique case of pure extra-axial anaplastic astroblastoma in an elderly woman. Awareness that astroblastoma may be also extra-axial and affect older subjects, may be helpful for its identification and differential diagnosis toward more common entities at this site and age of onset, and for appropriate therapeutic management as well.

Keywords: BRAF; anaplastic; astroblastoma; extra-axial; meningioma.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Brain Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial / diagnostic imaging
  • Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial / pathology*