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Medulloblastoma: histological evaluation and prognosis

A clinical, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic study

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Abstract

Eighty-four cases of medulloblastoma were examined immunohistochemically and 12 by electron microscopy to assess differentiation in these tumors. Based upon the largest series of medulloblastoma studied to date, we demonstrated glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positivity, in 25% (21/84) of these tumors showing glial differentiation. GFAP-positive cells were seen more frequently in the desmoplastic variant of medulloblastoma (7/10). Under electron microscopy, the major part of the 12 tumors studied appeared primitive and undifferentiated. In 7 cases, groups of cells were found with primitive neuronal and/or glial features. GFAP positivity was confirmed at light microscopy level in all cases where cells showed glial differentiation in the form of glial-like filaments in cytoplasma. However, a follow-up questionnaire study of those patients who had received only surgical treatment revealed no difference in mean survival time between GFAP-positive and GFAP-negative medulloblastoma.

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Author notes

  1. Janusz Szyma

    Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Neurologische Forschung, Ostmerheimer Strasse 200, D-5000, Köln 91, Federal Republic of Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Academy of Medicine, Przybyszewskiego Str. 49, PL-60355, Poznań, Poland

    Janusz Szyma, Wieslawa Biczysko, Przemyslaw Gabryel & Stanislaw Morkowski

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  1. Janusz Szyma
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  2. Wieslawa Biczysko
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Supported by the Governmental Grant PR-06 for Fighting Cancer

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Szyma, J., Biczysko, W., Gabryel, P. et al. Medulloblastoma: histological evaluation and prognosis. Child's Nerv Syst 3, 74–80 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00271127

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