Spinal glioblastoma with brain relapse in a child: Clinical considerations

Abstract

Study design: Case report. Objectives: To describe a child with intramedullary glioblastoma at T9-T10-T11, and to discuss the clinical features of this rare pathology. Setting: Department of Neurological Sciences, Italy. Case report: Spinal cord glioblastoma in children has only rarely been reported. It most frequently involves the thoracic region with a predilection for the second and third decades of life. This report describes one case of thoracic glioblastoma multiforme in a 6-year-old child and reviews other cases reported in the literature. Results: Laminectomy and excision of the tumour were performed. Postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy were given, but 4 months later the patient presented with a brain relapse of the tumour. At 9 months after diagnosis the patient died from cerebral tumour regrowth. Conclusions: Full neuraxis MRI is always recommended in order to detect possible metastases. The prognosis after multimodality therapy (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) remains poor. From the literature, only four cases of paediatric patients with long-term survival have been reported. © 2005 International Spinal Cord Society. All rights reserved.