[Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma: clinical symptoms, treatment, outcome]

Abstract

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a very rare tumor of an astrocytic origin (prevalence rate: less than 1%). Four PXA cases studied by the authors are reported: one female and three male patients aged from 17 to 31 years. Seizure disorder was the initial presentation in all four cases--2 patients suffered from a single epileptic fit, while the other 2 patients had a long epileptic history of 6 and 25 years. CT and MRI scans revealed tumors located in the temporal (3 cases) and parietal lobes (1 case). In 3 cases the tumor had a cystic part. All the patients underwent surgery--in all the cases a gross total removal was achieved. All four patients did well after surgery. Postoperative radiotherapy was administered in 2 cases. At a follow-up ranging from 9 months to 3.1 years all the patients remained in a good neurological condition, 3 of them were free from epilepsy, while one patient still suffered from epileptic seizures, but their frequency was lower. Observation of the PXA patients after the surgical treatment showed a good outcome--they were free from epileptic seizures.