Pilocytic midbrain astrocytoma presenting with fresh bleed after twenty-one-years survival following first surgery: A unique case of longest brainstem glioma survival

Abstract

Brainstem glioma usually carries a poor prognosis and prolonged survival is very infrequent. In a detailed Pubmed, Medline search for prolonged survival, authors could got a longest survival only up to seventeen years, reported by Umehara et al, who was subjected to gamma knife therapy and got symptomatic, MRI brain reveled large tumor growth during pregnancy necessitating emergency surgery and histopathological diagnosis was pilocytic astrocytoma. Authors report an interesting case of midbrain glioma diagnosed 21 years back, who underwent gross resection in the year 1993, histopathology was pilocytic astrocytoma, WHO grade I, and received gamma knife surgery for residual subsequently and he presented with sudden onset left sided hemiplegia on the current admission. The cranial MRI imaging revealed an infarct involving right hemi midbrain, contrast MRI brain revealed no residual glioma. To the best knowledge of authors such prolonged survival is not reported with a case of brainstem glioma survived twenty- one years with non residual tumor on the last imaging study represents first case of its kind in the western literature and probably developed hemiplegia due to bleed, highlighting bleed as delayed complication following gamma knife therapy for cranial tumors.