Radiation-induced cerebellar glioblastoma at the site of a treated medulloblastoma: case report.

Abstract

Radiation-induced glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a rare complication of radiotherapy. The authors report such a case occurring 10 years after treatment of cerebellar medulloblastoma. The patient was a 15-year-old boy who had undergone a gross-total removal of a medulloblastoma and received radiation therapy at the age of 5 years. He had experienced no tumor recurrences for 10 years until a new enhancing mass was found at the original site of the medulloblastoma. Following its resection the new lesion was found to be a GBM and there was no evidence of a medulloblastoma. The second tumor developed at the same site as the previous one after a sufficient latent period and fulfilled the criteria for a radiation-induced neoplasm. The original tumor cells expressed synaptophysin without p53 overexpression, a characteristic feature of medulloblastomas. In contrast, cells from the later tumor expressed glial fibrillary acidic protein and p53 but not synaptophysin. A sequence analysis of the p53 gene showed deletion at codon 233 and a C to G transition at codon 278 in the GBM but no mutation in the medulloblastoma. A GBM specimen revealed no amplification of the epidermal growth factor receptor compared with a normal control specimen. In conclusion, the clinical features of a radiation-induced GBM are similar to that of the primary GBM, whereas its genetic alterations render it a secondary GBM. These findings indicate that radiation-induced GBM should be considered a distinct clinical entity.