CAVERNOUS ANGIOMA ASSOCIATED WITH OLIGO-ASTROCYTOMA-LIKE PROLIFERATION - REPORT OF 2 CASES AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE WITH A REAPPRAISAL OF THE TERM ANGIOGLIOMA

Reporting two cases of cavernous angioma closely associated with oligo -astrocytoma we were stimulated to revise the proper use of the term ' 'angioglioma'', introduced by Councilman 80 years ago(7). In the past this term was often used in a merely descriptive sense i.e. either to give a name to an exceptional coincidence of AVM and glioma or simply to describe a hypervascularized glioma. Today, according to the majori ty of authors, such a use of this term has to be rejected as inappropr iate. Occasionally however the term angioglioma has been used to desig nate a true mixed composite neoplasm developed after the transformatio n of both glial and angiogenic elements determined by simultaneously o r consecutively acting (even possibly intermingled) oncogenic factors. Among reported cases claimed to be examples of ''true'' angioglioma, the association cavernomaoligodendroglioma/astrocytoma seems the most intriguing besides being also the most frequent one. Opinions about th is topic however did continue to be unequivocal. While some authors re garded the oligodendroglial proliferation associated with AVM as merel y reactive or malformative, others considered it as truly neoplastic p utting forward the hypothesis of a common viral or genetic aetiology f or both AVM and glioma.