Midline glioblastoma multiforme with bilateral symmetric cysts.

Cystic glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a rare disease. Its exact prevalence has not yet been reported. Also, the mechanism of cyst formation remains to be elucidated. We report a case of GBM with a large peripheral cyst. A 43-year-old woman visited our clinic with a 3-month history of severe headache, memory impairment and general weakness. T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) image revealed a midline enhanced solid mass and bilateral symmetric banana-shaped peripheral cysts. A centrally enhanced mass was measured 2x4 cm in size and both mass and cysts as 7x7 cm. Both the frontal lobe and the frontal horn were severely compressed inferiorly and posteriorly. We resected a midline solid tumor and cysts via the bilateral interhemispheric transcortical approach. Histopathologic examination revealed GBM. The patient was subsequently treated with fractionated conventional brain radiation therapy, followed by temozolomide chemotherapy. Eighteen months later, there was no tumor recurrence and no neurological deficits were noted. Our patient showed no tumor recurrence and a long survival at a long follow-up.

Effect of vagus nerve stimulation in post-traumatic epilepsy and failed epilepsy surgery : preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been used in epilepsy patients refractory to standard medical treatments and unsuitable candidates for resective or disconnective surgery. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of VNS to patients who had refractory result to epilepsy surgery and patients with post-traumatic epilepsy. METHODS: We analyzed the effect of VNS in 11 patients who had undergone previous epilepsy surgery and patients with intractable post-traumatic epilepsy associated with brain injury. All patients underwent VNS implantation between October 2005 and December 2006. RESULTS: We evaluated seizure frequency before and after implantation of VNS and maximum follow up period was 24 months. In the first 6 months, 11 patients showed an average of 74.3% seizure reduction. After 12 months, 10 patients showed 85.2% seizure reduction. Eighteen months after implantation, 9 patients showed 92.4% seizure reduction and 7 patients showed 97.2% seizure reduction after 24 months. Six patients were seizure-free at this time. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the VNS is a helpful treatment modality in patients with surgically refractory epilepsy and in patients with post-traumatic epilepsy due to severe brain injury.