SUBEPENDYMOMA OF THE 3RD VENTRICLE AFTER PARTIAL RESECTION OF A CRANIOPHARYNGIOMA AND REPEATED POSTOPERATIVE IRRADIATION

We present the case of a 28-year-old man who underwent craniotomy and subsequent radiotherapy for a suprasellar craniopharyngioma at the age of 8 years. The patient suffered from a severe pituitary deficiency u ntil his death, The cause of death was a bronchopneumonia. At necropsy epithelial tissue characteristic of craniopharyngioma was no longer f ound, but instead a subependymoma of the third ventricle. Up to now mo st reported primary central nervous system tumors associated with sube pendymomas were ependymomas. However, in 1 case very similar to ours a subependymoma was associated with a craniopharyngioma. Furthermore, o nly rare examples of subependymomas of the third ventricle have been r eported. The growth of a subependymoma might have been induced by inte nse reactive gliosis as a response of the adjacent brain tissue to the craniopharyngioma. However, in view of the repeated post-operative ir radiation in our case the possibility of radiation-induced glioma has also to be considered.