Summary
A case is reported of a 9-year-old boy with a cerebral polar spongioblastoma. This neoplasm, first described by Russell and Cairns in 1947, is morphologically a distinct entity characterized by bipolar tumor cells with palisading nuclei. In the case under study immunoreactivity for neuron-specific enolase was found and ultrastructural features of developing neuronal elements were present. A neuro-endocrine nature was suggested by de Chadarévian et al. (1984) in a morphologically similar case. These findings are in contrast with the longheld view that the polar spongioblastoma is cytogenetically related to the embryonal radial glial cells.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bailey P, Cushing H (1926) A classification of tumors of the glioma group on a histogenetic basis with a correlated study of prognosis. Lippincott, Philadelphia, p 175
Cairns H, Russell DS (1931) Intracranial and spinal metastases in gliomas of the brain. Brain 54:377–420
de Chadarévian JP, Guyda HF, Hollenberg RD (1984) Hypothalamic polar spongioblastoma associated with diencephalic syndrome: ultrastructural demonstration of a neuroendocrine organization. Virchows Arch [A] 402:465–474
Langford LA, Camel MH (1987) Palisading pattern in cerebral neuroblastoma mimicking the primitive polar spongioblastoma. An ultrastructural study. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 73:153–159
Mittelbach M (1935) Über Gliome mit Metastäse. Beitr Pathol Anat 95:538–572
Rubinstein LJ (1964) Morphological problems of brain tumors with mixed cell population. Acta Neurochir [Suppl] (Wien) X:141–166
Rubinstein LJ (1972) Cytogenesis and differentiation of primitive central neuroepithelial tumors. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 31:7–26
Russell DS, Cairns H (1947) Polar spongioblastomas. Arch Histol (B. Aires) 3:423–441
Russell DS, Rubinstein LJ (1989) Pathology of tumours of the nervous system, 5th edn. Edward Arnold, London, pp 172, 175
Schochet SS, Violett TW, Nelson J, Pelofsky S, Barnes PA (1984) Polar spongioblastoma of the cervical spinal cord: case report. Clin Neuropathol 3:225–227
Slooff JL, Kernohan JW, MacCarty CS (1964) Primary medullary tumors of the spinal cord and filum terminale. Saunders, Philadelphia, pp 147–148
Steinberg GK, Shuer LM, Conley FK, Hanbery JW (1985) Evolution and outcome in malignant astroglial neoplasms of the cerebellum. J Neurosurg 62:9–17
Wechsler W, Meller K (1967) Electron microscopy of neuronal and glial differentiation in the developing brain of the chick. Prog Brain Res 26:93–144
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jansen, G.H., Troost, D. & Dingemans, K.P. Polar spongioblastoma: an immunohistochemical and electron microscopical study. Acta Neuropathol 81, 228–232 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334514
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334514