[Cerebellar ganglioglioma: a case report].

A case of cerebellar ganglioglioma is reported. A 22-year-old female was admitted to the Kurume University Hospital on August 19, 1985, suffering from headache, vomiting and gait disturbance. On admission, neurological examination revealed staggering gait and the right cerebellar ataxia showing dysmetria and dysdiadochokinesis. Mild choked disc in the right fundus was also noted. Plain CT scan showed the low-density area involving the right cerebellar hemisphere and the part of the vermis with internal hydrocephalus. Enhanced CT scan showed the high-density area adjacent to the low-density area suggesting a mural nodule. A vertebral angiogram in the arterial phase showed an expansive lesion in the posterior fossa and the tumor stain, which was also visualized in the venous phase. An emergency suboccipital craniectomy was then performed. With opening the tense dura mater, the cyst formation was noted and 30 ml of xanthochromic fluid was then aspirated. A well demarcated mural nodule was noted in the lateral wall of the cyst. The nodule was then extirpated in toto. The hypertrophy of the cerebellar cortex was not observed. Histologically, the tumor was consisted of nerve fiber, glial fiber and neuronal cells. Its architecture was differed distinctly from that of hamartomatous diffuse hypertrophy of the cerebellar cortex (Lhermitte-Duclos' disease). Immunohistochemically, the neuronal cells revealed positive staining for NSE and S-100, and the glial cells displayed positive staining for GFAP, S-100. The authors reviewed previously reported eleven cases of cerebellar ganglioglioma including the present case. These results showed that cerebellar gangliogliomas have some characteristic clinical features among general intracranial gangliogliomas.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)