Long-term drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy associated with a mixed ganglioglioma and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor in an elderly patient.

BACKGROUND Mixed ganglioglioma and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET) is an extremely rare neuropathological diagnosis. The sparse number of patients described are children or young adults with long-term drug-resistant epilepsy. CASE DESCRIPTION We report on a rare case of this tumor in a 61-year-old patient with an epilepsy duration of almost 60 years. This patient received an epilepsy surgery work-up with the intention to cure his drug-resistant epilepsy by performing a complete lesionectomy. The available literature on these mixed tumors is reviewed. CONCLUSION A contrast-enhancing mixed ganglioglioma and DNET can mimic a malignant tumor and appears not only in children and young adults, but also in the elderly patients with chronic epilepsy. A long-lasting epilepsy, in this case almost 60 years, can be completely cured by a complete lesionectomy.