Extracranial metastasis of anaplastic oligodendroglioma with 1p19q loss of heterozygosity--case report.

We report a rare case of anaplastic oligodendroglioma with extracranial metastasis, showing 1p19q co-deletion in both the brain tissue and the metastatic site. A 53-year-old man first presented with a left frontal tumor. The tumor was subtotally removed and irradiation was performed for the residual tumor and tumor bed. Two years after the initial treatment, several tumors appeared on his neck and one was resected. Histological examination revealed anaplastic oligodendroglioma, proved to be the same as the previous brain tumor. The patient refused further treatment, and died 30 months after the initial treatment. Autopsy demonstrated multiple extracranial metastases in the vertebrae, lymph nodes, spinal dura mater, thymus gland, and chest wall. We confirmed 1p19q loss of heterozygosity in both lesions, suggesting that 1p19q co-deletion might important to extracranial metastasis of oligodendroglioma.