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Metastatic pineocytoma of the spinal cord after long‐term dormancy
Author(s) -
Ito Takui,
Takahashi Hitoshi,
Ikuta Fusahiro,
Sato Hiroshi
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1827.1994.tb01685.x
Subject(s) - medicine , spinal cord , pathology , dormancy , term (time) , biology , psychiatry , botany , germination , physics , quantum mechanics
An unusual tumor in the spinal cord of a 57 year old man is reported. At the age of 42 years, the patient had had a pineal region tumor that subsequently disappeared completely after local radiation therapy only. Eleven and 15 years later, at the ages of 53 and 57 years, respectively, solitary spinal cord tumors were found and removed. Pathological examination revealed that these tumors were of neurogenic origin and showed the characteristic features of pineal parenchymal tumors such as pineocytoma and pineoblastoma. Based on the cytology of individual tumor cells and the absence of mitotic figures and necrotic foci, this patient was diagnosed as having metastatic pineocytoma of the spinal cord. This case suggests that distant, subarachnoidal metastasis to the spinal cord can occur in pineocytomas even after long‐term dormancy.