Sporadic Meningioangiomatosis Presenting as a Middle Cranial Fossa Arachnoid Cyst.

Background: Meningioangiomatosis is an extremely rare meningovascular disease of the central nervous system that is characterized by the proliferation of leptomeninges, cortical vessels, and perivascular spindled cells. Although it is a benign, neoplastic disorder that carries a good prognosis after surgical excision, initial diagnosis may be challenging as radiologic findings are often variable and nonspecific.

Case Description: In this report, we describe an unusual presentation of meningioangiomatosis presenting as a symptomatic middle cranial fossa arachnoid cyst.

Comparative study of the methods of extracting mesenchymal stem cells from cryopreserved Wharton's Jelly.

The Wharton's Jelly (WJ) is an established source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). We compared 3 methods of extracting WJ-MSC from cryopreserved tissue and determined that enzymatic digestion of the WJ yielded the most viable MSC, compared to the explant and mechanical digestion methods. The enzymatically-released WJ-MSC conformed to the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) criteria: displayed plastic-adherence, co-expressed CD73, CD90, CD105 and were negative for hematopoietic lineage cell markers.

Bilateral Thalamic and Right Fronto-temporo-parietal Gliomas in a 4 Years Old Child Diagnosed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

We report the neuroimaging findings of a 4-year-old girl with biopsy-proven bilateral thalamic and right fronto-temporo-parietal cortical gliomas, which are uncommon tumours involving the central nervous system. Despite their benignity, the prognosis is usually poor because of involvement of the thalamic nuclei and difficulty in surgical excision. These lesions have limited differential diagnoses that include metabolic, toxic, infective, vascular and neoplastic.

Epigenetic inactivation of DLC-1 in supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

Supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (SPNETs) and medulloblastomas (MBs) are histologically similar intracranial tumors found in different anatomic locations of the brain. Our group has previously demonstrated that loss of chromosome 8p is a frequent event in MBs. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether DLC-1, a newly identified tumor-suppressor gene on chromosome 8p22, is involved in the tumorigenesis of MBs and the histologically similar SPNETs.

MR imaging features of pigmented villonodular synovitis of the cervical spine.

Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a benign proliferative disorder primarily occurring in the large joints of the appendicular skeleton such as the knee and hip joints. We present an unusual case of PVNS involving the cervical spine in an adult. MR imaging showed an enhancing mass lesion arising from the posterior elements of the cervical spine and hyperintensity on the T2-weighted images, without evidence of T2 susceptibility effects.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the hypoglossal nerve.

We report a case of solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) causing isolated hypoglossal nerve palsy. The neuroimaging appearance of the tumor was indistinguishable from that of schwannoma or meningioma. Immunohistochemical tests demonstrated strong reactivity for CD34 but an absence of staining for S100 and epithelial membrane antigen; this profile is indicative of an SFT.

Glioblastoma multiforme in an Asian population: evidence for a distinct genetic pathway.

In Singapore astrocytic tumours occur in only 25% of patients with primary brain tumours compared to 40-60% in other series. Glioblastoma multiforme arises either de novo as a primary glioblastomas associated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and mdm2 over-expression or as a secondary glioblastomas, through malignant progression from low-grade astrocytomas, associated with p53 mutations and PDGFR-alpha over-expression. Using immunohistochemical methods and DNA sequencing, we studied our population of glioblastomas for overexpression of EGFR, mdm2, p53, and PDGFR-alpha as well directly for mutations of the p53 gene.

Overexpression of mdm2 and p53 and association with progesterone receptor expression in benign meningiomas.

The progesterone receptor is frequently found expressed in meningiomas at robust levels. As several studies of breast and endometrial tumors have shown an inverse correlation between progesterone receptor expression and p53 overexpression, we sought to determine if a similar relationship existed in meningiomas. As p53 may also be inactivated by the overexpression of mdm2, we examined a cohort of 90 benign meningiomas immunohistochemically for the presence of the progesterone receptor as well as overexpression of p53 and mdm2.

Expression of survivin in primary glioblastomas.

Purpose: Studies in several tumour types have suggested that the inappropriate expression of the novel inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin may play a key role in tumourigenesis. This study presents the first immunohistochemical examination of survivin expression in glioblastomas.

Method: The cohort consisted of 39 ethnic Chinese patients diagnosed with primary glioblastoma multiforme.