Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May 13;101(19):e29237.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000029237.

Glioneuronal tumor with neuropil-like islands in the spinal cord: A case report and literature review

Honglei Liu  1 , Can Wang  2 , Lei Lou  2 , Yuehong Li  2 , Li Yi  2
Affiliations
Review

Glioneuronal tumor with neuropil-like islands in the spinal cord: A case report and literature review

Honglei Liu et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Rationale: Glioneuronal tumor with neuropil-like islands (GTNI) is a distinctive neoplasm located in the cerebrum. Moreover, spinal GTNI is extremely rare. Herein, we present a case of spinal GTNI and review the related literature.

Patient concerns: A 38-year-old Chinese woman presented to our hospital with a 6-month history of neck pain and a 1-month history of dizziness.

Diagnoses: Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large intramedullary mass spanning the length of the spinal cord from C1 to C4. Microscopic and immunohistochemical examinations of the tumor tissue revealed findings typical of GTNI.

Interventions: The patient underwent C1 to C4 intraspinal gross tumor resection.

Outcomes: Follow-up results showed that the patient had no recurrence 6 months after tumor resection.

Lessons: GTNI in the spinal cord is a highly rare neoplasm with poor prognosis. Therefore, clinicians and pathologists should differentiate GTNI from other benign glioneuronal tumors, and long-term follow-up of patients with spinal GTNI is necessary.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Magnetic resonance imaging reveals the primary intramedullary lesion extending from C1 to C4, characterized by T1-weighted imaging hypointensity (A) and T2-weighted imaging hyperintensity (B), and intensity is enhanced after contrast medium administration (C).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A, B) Loose sheets of uniform, small tumor cells intervening between neuropil-like islands (hematoxylin and eosin, 40× [A]; 100× [B]). (C) Rimming an island, an astrocytic component with ganglion-like cells is observed (hematoxylin and eosin, 200×).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is strongly positive in the astrocytic component (immunohistochemistry [IHC], 100×). (B) The astrocytic component is decorated by Oligo-2 (IHC, 100×). (C) Synaptophysin immunostaining highlights the neuropil-like islands (IHC, 100×). (D) The ganglion-like cells are immunopositive for neuronal nuclear protein (IHC, 100×). (E) The Ki-67 proliferation index reached 5% in the astrocytic component and less than 1% in the neuropil-like islands (IHC, 100×).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Teo JG, Gultekin SH, Bilsky M, Gutin P, Rosenblum MK. A distinctive glioneuronal tumor of the adult cerebrum with neuropil-like (including “rosetted”) islands: report of 4 cases. Am J Surg Pathol 1999;23:502–10. - PubMed
    1. Louis DN, Ohgaki H, Wiestler OD, et al. . Pathology of Tumours of the Central Nervous System. 2007;Lyon, FR: IARC Press, 97–109. - PubMed
    1. Harris BT, Horoupian DS. Spinal cord glioneuronal tumor with “rosetted” neuropil islands and meningeal dissemination: a case report. Acta Neuropathol 2000;100:575–9. - PubMed
    1. Ruppert B, Welsh CT, Hannah J, et al. . Glioneuronal tumor with neuropil-like islands of the spinal cord with diffuse leptomeningeal neuraxis dissemination. J Neurooncol 2011;104:529–33. - PubMed
    1. Buccoliero AM, Castiglione F, Degl’innocenti DR, et al. . Glioneuronal tumor with neuropil-like islands: clinical, morphologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular features of three pediatric cases. Pediatr Dev Pathol 2012;15:352–60. - PubMed