Multiple extracranial metastases from secondary glioblastoma: a case report and review of the literature.

Glioblastoma represents extreme anaplasia in astrocytic tumors. In spite of this aggressiveness, extracranial metastasis of glioblastoma is very rare and has been documented in only a few patients in the literature. In this article, a 30-year-old woman with secondary glioblastoma associated with extracranial distant metastasis was presented. In September 2008, an intracranial lesion in the left frontal region was diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after admission to the hospital by headache and seizure and subsequently resected. The histology of the lesion revealed an anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III). Upon recurrence of the tumor 7 months later, the patient underwent a second craniotomy for recurrence tumor resection. The histological diagnosis was glioblastoma. After radiotherapy and chemotherapy, cranial computerized tomography (CT) and whole body scintigraphy revealed metastatic lesions in the right cervical lymph nodes and the left ischium. A neck dissection and parathyroidectomy on the right side was performed. The cytomorphological and histological features of the tumor supported the diagnosis of metastatic glioblastoma.