Medulloblastomas in Pediatric and Adults.

Medulloblastoma is the primary malignant embryonic tumor of the cerebellum and the most common malignant tumor of childhood, accounting up to 25% of all CNS tumors in children, but is extremely rare in adults. Despite the fact that medulloblastomas are one of the most malignant human tumors, it is worthy to note that a great breakthrough has been achieved in our understanding of oncogenesis and the development of real methods of treatment. The main objective of surgical treatment is a maximum resection of tumor with minimal impairment of neurological functions, in order to reduce the volume, remove tumor tissue, get the biopsy, and restore the cerebrospinal fluid flow.

[Verification of the diagnosis of supratentorial ependymomas by real-time PCR].

Background: Differential diagnosis of supratentorial ependymomas is of particular difficulty in neurooncology due to nonspecific clinical and radiographic findings, a rare seen «classic» morphological picture, and a nonspecific immunophenotype. Thanks to molecular genetic methods, in particular real-time PCR, it has become possible to verify supratentorial ependymomas and identify their molecular group, on which further prognosis depends.

Objective: To develop a set of molecular genetic tests based on real-time PCR to verify supratentorial ependymomas.

[Novel BRAF::EPB41L2 gene fusion in posterior fossa pilocytic astrocytoma. Brief communication].

Identification of specific alterations in tumors (as a rule, these are mutations or gene fusions) makes it possible to prescribe targeted drugs of the second line of therapy or, in some cases of inoperable tumors, to observe not only a gradual partial response of the tumor to treatment, but also the removal of these patients from the category of incurable ones. The article describes a new rare type of gene fusion detected in a piloid astrocytoma that developed in the posterior cranial fossa in an 11-year-old boy.

Craniopharyngiomas: Surgery and Radiotherapy.

Taking into account the benign nature of craniopharyngiomas, the main method of treatment is the resection of the tumor. However, the tendency of these tumors to invade critical structures (such as optic pathways, the hypothalamic-pituitary system, the Willis circle vessels) often limits the possibility of a radical surgery.Craniopharyngiomas of the third ventricle represent the greatest challenge for surgery.

[Sarcomas of the central nervous systems. Clinical observations].

Here we report three patients with rare primary intracranial sarcomas, two of them were CIC-sarcomas and one was a -sarcoma. Tumors were examined using DNA methylation. It is important to study of CIC fusions and mutations in malignant brain tumors.