Cervicomedullary glioblastoma: A report of two cases with review of literature.

BACKGROUND

Cervicomedullary glioblastoma is an extremely rare clinical entity and the principles of its management are not well understood.

CASE DESCRIPTION

We report two cases of cervicomedullary glioblastoma in young patients aged 12 and 30 years with contrasting clinical presentation and outcomes. The 12-year-old child had rapid onset bulbar symptoms, with frank infiltration of the medulla due to which the patient succumbed within 4 weeks of surgery. The 30-year-old adult had a relatively slow disease onset and progression and made a good neurological recovery without disease progression at 16 months after surgery. To the best of our knowledge, we also report only the second adult patient in the literature with a dorsally exophytic cervicomedullary glioblastoma. Difficulties in diagnosis and management are discussed with a review of the pertinent literature.

CONCLUSION

The overall outcome depends on the rapid progression and severity of preoperative symptoms and the degree of tumor infiltration noted in imaging and during surgery.