Congenital neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma are pediatric tumors of neural crest origin, most often local ized in adrenal glands and infrequently congenital. We report two fetal cas es found at autopsy, performed at 24 and 28 weeks of gestation, respectivel y. The 24 week old fetus did not show any malformation : systematic histolo gical ana lysis found neuroblastoma cells in both the adrenal glands and th e retroperitoneal fat tissue. The 28 week old fetus was hydropic and exhibi ted a nodule (3 cm) in the posterior mediastinum, next to the thoracic spin al cord. This tumor responded to a neuroblastoma associated with small meta static foci in the adrenal glands. the liver and the frontal brain cortex. The placenta was abnormally heavy and showed hemorrhagic and necrotic areas . Microscopically plugged clumps of neuroblastoma cells were found inside f etal vessels. Immunohistochemistry was employed in both cases and the cells showed immunoreactivity for NSE, NB 84, chromogranin, synaptophysin and ne urofilaments, while desmin, MIC 2, and protein S-100 were negative. Congeni tal neuroblastomas are rare and. to our knowledge this is the thirteenth re port of congenital neuroblastoma associated with placental metastasis.