Diffuse pontine astrocytoma with lipocytic differentiation.

A 7-year-old boy was treated with radiation and chemotherapy for a diffuse pontine glioma. At autopsy, 8 months after diagnosis, the tumor was a diffuse grade II fibrillary astrocytoma with prominent lipocytic differentiation. Literature review suggests that lipocytic differentiation in low-grade astrocytomas occurs in a variety of patient ages, anatomic sites, grades, and astrocytic subtypes. Although the majority of low-grade lipoastrocytomas have behaved benignly, this child's lipoastrocytoma was the underlying cause of death. This outcome suggests that the outcomes of low-grade lipoastrocytic tumors may be expected to be the same as the underlying tumor subtype.