PRENATAL-DIAGNOSIS OF A HIGHLY UNDIFFERENTIATED BRAIN-TUMOR - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Intracranial tumours, often presenting with progressive hydrocephalus, are rare congenital diseases accounting for 0.5-1.5 per cent of all c ases of brain rumours diagnosed during childhood. The differential dia gnosis includes vascular malformations, infarctions, and haemorrhages. Sonographic signs suggestive of glioblastoma, teratoma, and astrocyto ma do not establish the histological diagnosis, however. We report a c ase of an undifferentiated fetal glioma detected at 29 weeks' gestatio n. The diagnosis of an undifferentiated brain tumour was suspected by sonography because of the lack of normal brain structures in conjuncti on with a diffuse echogenic central lesion and an external hydrocephal us. Because of the very poor prognosis, we induced labour by intravagi nal and intravenous administration of prostaglandin E-2 and achieved t he vaginal delivery of a stillborn child whose head circumference corr esponded to 38 weeks of pregnancy. Histological and immunochemical fea tures of this undifferentiated congenital glioma (glioblastoma) are pr esented. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.