Prolactinoma with apoplexy in the context of thrombocytopaenia: A case report.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Pituitary apoplexy is a clinical syndrome that occurs secondary to abrupt haemorrhage or infarction and can cause a presentation with headache, visual disturbances, and various neurological deficits. Pituitary apoplexy is a rare clinical syndrome that is often misdiagnosed or discovered late in its clinical course due to its relatively nonspecific clinical presentation. CASE PRESENTATION: The case describes patient with a giant prolactinoma which developed haemorrhagic progression in the context of previously undiagnosed coagulopathy from idiopathic thrombocytopaenia. Transcranial (rather than transnasal) surgery was performed for evacuation and debulking. CONCLUSION: The case highlights the management of an exceedingly large adenoma in the context of coagulopathy contributing to rapid clinical progression, as well as a positive clinical outcome in a patient with restored vision and pituitary function.

Cavernous sinus embolisation prior to removal of penetrating foreign body in a 6-year-old child.

Transorbital penetrating foreign bodies are extremely rare in children and may penetrate the cavernous sinus or the underlying internal carotid artery. Parent vessel sacrifice and temporary balloon occlusion are feasible options for managing arterial injury during removal of the foreign body. Even in the absence of arterial injury, the ophthalmologist may encounter significant bleeding from the cavernous sinus deep in their operative field that is difficult to control. We present a case of a 6-year-old child with a stick penetrating the left superior orbit to enter the cavernous sinus but sparing the internal carotid artery. We describe the first reported experience of prophylactic coil embolisation of the cavernous sinus to minimise intraoperative bleeding during transorbital removal of a foreign body with an excellent clinical outcome.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma at the cerebellopontine angle mimicking a trigeminal schwannoma: A unique case report and literature review.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an uncommon extranodal manifestation of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with those presenting at the cerebellopontine angle (CPA) being rare presentations with limited reported cases in the literature. We report a 60-year old female presenting with PCNSL of the left CPA radiologically mimicking a trigeminal schwannoma with corresponding clinical signs. Imaging showed a left CPA lesion that was biopsied and confirmed as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Given its rarity, PCNSL should be considered in the differential diagnosis for all CPA tumours.

Hyperdiploid tumor cells increase phenotypic heterogeneity within Glioblastoma tumors.

Here we report the identification of a proliferative, viable, and hyperdiploid tumor cell subpopulation present within Glioblastoma (GB) patient tumors. Using xenograft tumor models, we demonstrate that hyperdiploid cell populations are maintained in xenograft tumors and that clonally expanded hyperdiploid cells support tumor formation and progression in vivo. In some patient tumorsphere lines, hyperdiploidy is maintained during long-term culture and in vivo within xenograft tumor models, suggesting that hyperdiploidy can be a stable cell state. In other patient lines hyperdiploid cells display genetic drift in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that in these patients hyperdiploidy is a transient cell state that generates novel phenotypes, potentially facilitating rapid tumor evolution. We show that the hyperdiploid cells are resistant to conventional therapy, in part due to infrequent cell division due to a delay in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Hyperdiploid tumor cells are significantly larger and more metabolically active than euploid cancer cells, and this correlates to an increased sensitivity to the effects of glycolysis inhibition. Together these data identify GB hyperdiploid tumor cells as a potentially important subpopulation of cells that are well positioned to contribute to tumor evolution and disease recurrence in adult brain cancer patients, and suggest tumor metabolism as a promising point of therapeutic intervention against this subpopulation.