Brain Tumors Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Brain tumors are a significant section in neurology.
• Key to mastering them is using mnemonics.
• Tumors should be categorized into adult and childhood tumors.

Adult Brain Tumors

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)

• Characteristics: Highly malignant, invasive, crosses corpus callosum.
• Histology: Pseudo-palisading tumor cells, GFAP positive.
• Mnemonic: GBM - G for GFAP, B to P for Pseudo-palisading, M for Midline & Malignant.
• Radiology: Butterfly appearance crossing midline.

Oligodendroglioma

• Histology: Chicken-wire capillary pattern, fried egg cells, calcified.
• Mnemonic: "Oligo" - Chickens lay eggs (fried egg cells), calcify (eggs have calcium).

Meningioma

• Characteristics: Benign, superficially located, arachnoid origin.
• Histology: Psammoma bodies, spindle cells.
• Mnemonic: Men have PSA issues - P for Psammoma bodies, S for Spindle cells, A for Arachnoid.

Hemangioblastoma

• Origin: Blood vessel.
• Characteristics: EPO producing, associated with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome.
• Histology: Thin-walled capillaries.
• Mnemonic: "HEMANGIO" - Heme (blood-related), Angio (blood vessel), Von EPO (EPO and von Hippel-Lindau association).

Pituitary Adenoma

• Subtypes: Lactotroph (Prolactinoma), Somatotroph, Non-functional.
• Symptoms: Vary by subtype (e.g., galactorrhea, amenorrhea, gynecomastia, bitemporal hemianopia).
• Mnemonic: Add anoma (adding hormones or mass effects).

Schwannoma

• Location: Cerebellopontine angle.
• Cranial Nerves: Affects CN VII & VIII (facial and vestibulocochlear).
• Association: Bilateral schwannomas with Neurofibromatosis Type 2.
• Histology: S-100 positive.
• Mnemonic: SCHW - S for S-100, C for Cerebellopontine angle, H for Hearing (CN VIII), W for Winking (CN VII).

Childhood Brain Tumors

Pilocytic Astrocytoma

• Histology: Rosenthal fibers, GFAP positive.
• Mnemonic: Drew Rosenhaus represents Houston Astros.

Medulloblastoma

• Histology: Homer-Wright rosettes.
• Mnemonic: Blast a homerun.

Ependymoma

• Histology: Perivascular pseudo-rosettes.
• Mnemonic: Forgot mom's birthday, give a "pseudo" rosette (rose).

Craniopharyngioma

• Origin: Remnants of Rathke's pouch.
• Mnemonic: No mnemonic, but remember Rathke = Craniopharyngioma.

Pinealoma

• Association: Parinaud syndrome.
• Mnemonic: Pinealoma causes Parinaud syndrome.

Conclusion

• Focus on buzzwords and mnemonics for high-yield learning.
• Understand key associations and histological characteristics for exams.