[Gangliocytoma of the pineal body. A case report and general review].

A case of pineal gangliocytoma in a 51 year-old man is presented. He was admitted to the hospital on February 2, 1982, with complaints of headache, nuchal pain, blurred vision, nausea and vomiting of three years' duration. Neurological examination did not show any neurological deficits but bilateral choked disc. Preoperative CT scan disclosed a sharp by circumscribed high density lesion in the pineal region with moderate hydrocephalus. Preoperative 99m Tc-DTPA brain scan revealed a warm activity in the pineal region, and changes of its activity were only little in the course of time. Preoperative Amipaque ventriculogram showed dilation of the lateral ventricles and a shadow of the tumor bulging into the posterior half of the distended third ventricle. A diagnosis of tumor of the pineal region was made and removal of the tumor was performed by biparieto-occipital interhemispheric approach in "sea lion" position. The tumor was a dark reddish solid mass which replaced the pineal body and extended under the cerebellar tentorium. The patient made an uneventful recovery without any neurological deficits. By light microscopy, the neoplasm was composed mostly of mature and immature ganglion cells and small round cells with moderate cellularity and multiform cytologic features. Ganglion cells with large nuclei and prominent nucleoli had characteristic Nissl substance in various amounts. Oligodendrocytes and astrocytes appeared around the tumor but did not show neoplastic growth. GFAP stain did not show glial component in the tumor. According these findings, the tumor was diagnosed as gangliocytoma originated from the pineal body, and this was the first case in Japan.