Brain stem tumors are perhaps the most dreaded cancers in pediatric oncology, owing to their historically poor prognosis, yet they remain an area of intense research. Brain stem tumors account for about 10 to 15% of childhood brain tumors. Peak incidence for these tumors occurs around age 6 to 9 years. The term brain stem glioma is often used interchangeably with brain stem tumor. More precisel...

We describe the case of a 29-year-old male who presented with new-onset seizures. He was subsequently found to have an orbital encephalocele containing a focus of pilocytic astrocytoma. We believe that this is the first report of a pilocytic astrocytoma located within the orbit that did not originate from the optic pathway. It is also the first case of a pilocytic astrocytoma completely contain...

A pilomyxoid astrocytoma is a recently described tumor that occurs predominantly in the hypothalamic-chiasmatic region and is rarely found elsewhere. It has similar features as pilocytic astrocytomas, but has distinct histological characteristics and a poorer prognosis. A pilomyxoid astrocytoma is an aggressive tumor, and increased awareness is necessary with a suspect case. We present the firs...

Purpose: The study was initiated to obtain epidemiologic data and information on anatomic distribution, clinical features and treatment results in patients with primary supratentorial anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiform. Patients and Methods: Between January 2000 and January 2006, 113 primary high grade astrocytoma patients were eligible to evaluate clinical features. Radiotherapy...

Astrocytoma is the most common type of primary malignant brain tumor, with pretty lowly 5-year survival rate in patients. Although extended surgical removal of the tumor and postoperative chemotherapy/radiotherapy executed, still there is large recurrence rate, mainly because diffuse glioma tumor cells ubiquitously infiltrate into normal parenchyma. So it becomes a priority to hunt novel molecu...

Pilocytic astrocytoma is a low-grade glioma that occurs mainly in cerebellum of children, and young adults. The article is a rare case report of pilocytic astrocytoma with angiocentric arrangement in the supratentorial region of a 39-year-old female. Immunohistochemical markers, including GFAP, Vimentin, S-100, CD56, NeuN and Olig2, showed positive expression in tumor cells. The proliferation i...

background: high-grade astrocytoma (grade 4) or glioblastoma multiforme (gbm) are deadly brain tumors. new therapies attempt to increase lifetime and quality of life in patients with malignant astrocytoma. o6-methylguanine-dna methyltransferase (mgmt) enzyme expression may be effective in prognosis and response to treatment of these patients. the aim of this study was assessment of mgmt enzyme ...

We have shown previously that, in astrocytoma cells, synemin is present at the leading edge, an unusual localization for an intermediate filament (IF) protein. Here, we report that synemin down-regulation with specific small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) sharply decreased the migration of astrocytoma cells. The presence of synemin at the leading edge also correlated with a high migratory potential, as ...

BACKGROUND Gliomas are highly malignant with a poor prognosis. Studies have reported that DNA repair genes influence risk for glioma, but its relationship with prognosis is unclear. In this study, we want to explore the relationship between DNA repair genes (XRCC3, XRCC4 and XRCC5) and prognosis of astrocytoma in the Chinese Han population. MATERIALS AND METHODS 160 astrocytoma cases were rec...