Affiliations: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate
Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India | Department of Pathology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate
Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Raj Kumar, Department of Neurosurgery,
Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow – 226014,
U.P. India. Tel.: +91 522 2668700, 2668800 Ext. 2157 (C), 2158 (R), 2107 (OT),
2741 (O); Fax: +91 522 2668129 & 2668017; E-mail: rajkumar@sgpgi.ac.in
Abstract: Malignant rhabdoid tumors of the brain are extremely malignant,
highly aggressive neoplasms found in infants and young children. These are rare
and not associated with renal neoplasm as believed earlier. We report three
cases of malignant rhabdoid tumors with reference to their clinicoradiological
aspect and fatal outcome despite a multimodality approach of management
(aggressive surgical resection and chemoradiotherapy). The first case was a two
and one half-year-old girl who presented with seizures, raised intracranial
pressure and right hemiparesis. Contrast magnetic resonance imaging showed a
huge heterointense tumor of the left hemisphere, which was a soft, suckable,
and very vascular, infiltrative mass with areas of necrosis. Postoperatively,
the girl had a difficult course with multiple metastases detected on the 45th
day and death on the 52nd day post diagnosis. The second patient was admitted
with large and infiltrative posterior fossa mass that required ventilatory
support in postoperative period for 3 weeks until his death. The third patient
was operated for a large, vascular and friable mass of the temporal lobe, which
recurred in 5 weeks. He was offered chemoradiotherapy but the length of his
life was only 8 months.
