Gliosarcomas: A Rare Case Report at Viet Duc University Hospital and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Gliosarcoma is a rare biphasic subtype of glioblastoma with the poor prognosis, principally affects adults; males are more frequently affected, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.8/1. Gliosarcomas are usually located in the cerebral hemispheres, involving the temporal, frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes in decreasing order of frequency. Rarely, gliosarcomas occur in the posterior fossa, lateral ventricles, or spinal cord. A case study: A 32-year-old woman presented with persistent nausea and headache. The preoperative diagnosis was Ependymoma in the right lateral ventricle of the brain. The patient underwent surgical resection of the tumor followed by external radiotherapy, and chemotherapy treatment. Histologic description: The tumor was made up of spindle cells with hyperchromic large nuclei and pink cytoplasm intermingled with large cells with markedly pleomorphic nuclei and abundant cytoplasm along with prominent mitotic activity. Tumour cells revealed positive staining for Ki67 (25%), Oligo2 (focal), GFAP (focal), SMA (focal); negative immunoreactivity for EMA, CD34, Bcl-2, TTF1. Pathological diagnosis: Gliosarcoma, grade IV. Conclusions: Gliosarcoma is an extremely rare neoplasm with an aggressive biological behavior. In terms of histopathology, gliosarcomas are characterized by a biphasic tissue pattern with alternating areas displaying glial and mesenchymal differentiation.  

Keywords

Gliosarcoma, glioblastoma multiforme, brain neoplasm.

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