An atypical presentation of diffuse midline pontine glioma in a middle age patient: Case report.

INTRODUCTION: Diffuse midline glioma is a newly WHO defined entity (grade IV) (Louis et al., 2016) which includes diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) reported in pediatric population and, occasionally, in young adults. Here, we present a detailed description of an atypical case of diffuse midline glioma in a 53 years old woman. CASE REPORT: A caucasian woman aged 53 from Ukraine, was referred to another neurological department complaining of 3 months history of progressive postural instability and gait impairment with frequent falling. Magnetic resonance demonstrated two brainstem lesions, hyperintense in FLAIR with "patchy" peripheral enhancement, leptomeningeal and cranial nerves enhancement. CSF was normal. Due to positive antinuclear antibodies test (ANA 1:360), intravenous steroid treatment was administered and reported to initially improve the patient condition. However, the following weeks the lady worsened. Imaging features were unchanged. Because quantiferon test resulted positive, MRI-Spectroscopy showed an inflammatory pattern and MRI perfusion study and brain FDG-PET, were normal, tubercolar granulomatous hypothesis was initially favored. Antitubercular therapy with isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol and rifampicin was started without any clinical improvement. Hence, the biopsy was proposed. The procedure revealed a diffuse midline pontine glioma. Considering the advanced stage of the disease, radiotherapy was not indicated. Patient died after eight months from the onset of neurological disturbances. CONCLUSION: Our case shows that diffuse midline glioma is a CNS tumor not limited to young population but occurring also in middle aged patients with an insidious pattern. We therefore recommend to perform biopsy at very early stages in patients with atypical brainstem lesions.

Neuropathies associated with IgG and IgA monoclonal gammopathy.

Neuropathy has been frequently reported in patients with monoclonal gammopathy, particularly those with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). While the neuropathy associated with IgM-MGUS is well characterized and is often associated with a reactivity of the monoclonal protein with neural antigens, the relationship between the neuropathy and IgG and IgA MGUS is less clear. We review here the clinical, electrophysiological and pathogenetic features of neuropathies associated with IgG and IgA M-proteins in order to determine whether they represent distinct clinical entities and, most importantly, whether the finding of an IgG or IgA monoclonal gammopathy in a patient with neuropathy should led to different diagnostic or therapeutical approaches. This review will mainly focus on neuropathies associated with MGUS since the disclosure of a malignant monoclonal gammopathy, including multiple or osteosclerotic myeloma, lymphoma or primary amyloidosis, in a patient with neuropathy usually divert the therapeutical decisions to the hematologist for an appropriate therapy of the underlying life threatening condition.