OLIGODENDROGLIAL HAMARTOMA OF THE RIGHT TEMPORAL-LOBE - A CASE-REPORTAND DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE HISTOGENESIS

A case of oligodendroglial hamartoma is reported in a 39-year-old man with a 20-year history of petit mal seizures. Magnetic Resonance Imagi ng of the brain showed a small focal area of abnormal decreased signal on T1-weighted images of theright temporal lobe. The patient became s eizure free after the removal of the lesion and treatment with carbama zepine. Pathologic examination revealed several aggregates of oligoden droglial cells with small, dark, regularly stained nuclei and a clear, well-defined perinuclear halo; there was no mixture of neurons or ast rocytes. Although these cells were negative, the background was strong ly positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein, and myelin basic prot ein. The histopathologic diagnosis of the temporal lobe lesion was oli godendroglial hamartoma. This report documents an additional subtype o f temporal lobe hamartoma associated with seizure disorder.