1. Astroblastoma: Identifying Critical Radiologic Features
Danielle A. Cunningham1, Lisa H. Lowe1,2, Lei Shao2, Natasha R Acosta1,3
1UMKC School of Medicine, 2Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, 3Truman Medical Center
INTRODUCTION
Astroblastoma is a rare tumor most commonly presenting in the cerebrum of children and young adults
The literature contains case reports and small series describing imaging features
Our team compiled the largest known systematic review of the literature regarding astroblastoma imaging: 125 cases in 59 publications
RESULTS
SUMMARY
Astroblastomas are rare supratentorial neoplasms occurring most commonly in children
Distinguishing radiologic features of astroblastoma include punctate calcifications, T1 and T2 hypointensity, and restricted diffusion [Fig. 1, 2]
Astroblastoma Sex Distribution
Fig. 1
Astroblastoma has a striking 8:2 female to male ratio
Frequency of Case Reports by Age Group
Fig. 2
CONCLUSION
Consider astroblastoma in young females with supratentorial tumors with calcifications, calvarial erosion, T1/T2 hypointensity, and restricted diffusion [Fig. 3, 4].
METHODS
PubMed search conducted via Medline, SCOPUS, and Ovid engines for “astroblastoma,” and “radiology,” or “neuroradiology,” or “imaging,” or “computed tomography,” or “magnetic resonance”
Results were sorted for case reports without any language or date limits. Three articles were translated from Japanese, Polish, and Spanish.
References of all relevant publications were evaluated for possible missed citations
IRB approval was granted to include two cases from Children’s Mercy Hospital
Inclusion criteria include tumor confirmation by pathology, inclusion of patient age at diagnosis, sex, and tumor location
CREDITS/DISCLOSURE/REFERENCES
Funded by a grant from the UMKC Sarah Morrison Research Foundation
Navarro R et al (2005) Astroblastoma in childhood: pathological and clinical analysis. Childs Nerv Syst 21:211‒20
Louis DN et al (2007) The 2007 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system. Acta Neuropathol 114:97‒109
Baka JJ et al (1993) Predominantly extraaxial astroblastoma: imaging and proton MR spectroscopy features. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 14:946‒50
Sener RN (2002) Astroblastoma: diffusion MRI, and proton MR spectroscopy. Comput Med Imaging Graph 26:187‒191
Cabrera-Zubizarreta A et al (2002) [Low grade astroblastoma: pathological and magnetic resonance findings]. Rev Neurol 34:936‒39
Bell JW et al (2007) Neuroradiologic characteristics of astroblastoma. Neuroradiology 49:203‒9
Port JD et al (2002) Astroblastoma: radiologic-pathologic correlation and distinction from ependymoma. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 23:243‒47
Astroblastoma diagnosis has a mean of 18 years of age (SD ±16.4) and a median of 14
Tumor Location
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
This research has been published in the journal Pediatric Radiology: DOI s00247
Complete references available via QR Code
96% of astroblastomas are supratentorial