Papillary tumor of the pineal region: Case report and review of the literature.

Papillary tumor of the pineal region is a rare neuroepithelial tumor characterized by papillary architecture and epithelial cytology, immunopositivity for cytokeratin and ependymal differentiation. It is considered grade II-III by the World Health Organization and was first described by Jouvet in 2003. We present a 34-year-old male with headaches, blurred vision and normal examination. Radiological study showed a nodulocystic lesion in the pineal region compatible with pineocytoma. Surgery was performed using an infratentorial supracerebellar approach, finding a cystic tumor in the quadrigeminal cistern which was completely resected. Histopathology reported a papillary tumor of the pineal region. The patient made good progress without adjuvant therapy, and after 57 months of follow-up he remained asymptomatic and free of recurrence. A review of the literature was performed to collect all the cases published with gross total resection and no complementary treatment. In conclusion, there is still much to be learned about the pathogenesis, prognosis and management of this tumor.

Avoiding pullout complications in external ventricular drains: technical note.

This report describes a reliable and simple technique for securing external ventricular drains (EVDs) to the scalp and avoiding pullout complications. The operative technique consists of fixing the drain between 2 hydrocolloid dressings and securing it with staples. A 10-year retrospective analysis of EVD pullout complications was performed in a series of 435 consecutive patients who were treated at a single institution. The EVD pullout complication rate was 0.4%. No complications related to the fixation technique were found. The median operative time required to fix the drain was 60 seconds. The technique presented here is a simple and reliable procedure to fix the EVD to the scalp, preventing pullout complications and thus reducing the morbidity of EVD reimplantation.

[Ectopic craniopharyngioma and Gardner's syndrome: Case report and literature review]. / Craneofaringioma ectópico y síndrome de Gardner: a propósito de un caso y revisión de la literatura.

INTRODUCTION: Craniopharyngioma accounts for around 3% of all primary tumours of the central nervous system. It is usually located in the suprasellar region, although it may also have an ectopic location. CASE REPORT: The case is presented on 29 year-old male who underwent surgery for a jaw osteoma when he was 19 years old and was subsequently diagnosed with Gardner's syndrome. He was admitted in our Hospital with right facial paresis and diplopia of one day onset. The examination showed mild right VII and VI cranial nerves paresis. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated a rounded solid and cystic lesion with well-defined contours of about 2cm in diameter filling the fourth ventricle. The patient underwent a posterior fossa craniotomy using a telovelar approach with complete removal of the tumour implanted at roof level of the fourth ventricle. The final histology of the tumour was reported as adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma. CONCLUSION: Craniopharyngioma may appear in another location other than the suprasellar region. Its atypical location may be related to Gardner syndrome by still unknown pathogenic mechanisms.