Yonago Acta medica 1997;40:63–72
Massive Lung Metastasis from Cerebellar Medulloblastoma: a Report on One Case and Review of Literature
Shinsuke Kato*, Hidenobu Aoki, Kunihiko Tamura*, Hiroko Hayashi*, Hajime Miyata*, Tomokatsu Hori‡ and Eisaku Ohama*
*Division of Neuropathology and ‡Division of Neurosurgery, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683 and Department of Neurosurgery, Matsue Municipal Hospital, Matsue 690, Japan
Cerebellar medulloblastoma with massive lung metastasis in a 10-year-old girl was studied histopathologically and immunohistochemically. She was treated twice by operation and had bilateral lung metastases appearing 13 months after the second operation. The autopsy revealed that the bilateral lungs were almost replaced by the medulloblastoma, and that the residual tumor cells in the primary focus could only be seen at the level of light microscope. The primary and metastatic tumor cells did not show any differentiation immunohistochemically. While researching the literature between the years 1960 to 1996, 114 cases of all ages having medulloblastomas with extracranial metastases were found. The metastatic spread of the tumors occurs at the rate of 3.9% (114/2,925). This is an invaluable report which clearly shows the massive lung metastasis of medulloblastoma, based on the detailed review of literature.
Key words: extracranial metastasis; reviewing literature; lung metastasis; medulloblastoma; immunohistochemistry
