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Ependymoma with extensive lipidization mimicking adipose tissue: A report of five cases

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Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

Lipomatous ependymoma is a recently described entity and only 3 cases of this variant have been reported in the literature. We report 5 cases of this rare variant of ependymoma. Patients’ age ranged from 4 years to 45 years and, interestingly, all of them were males. Two tumors were supratentorial in location, 2 in the fourth ventricle and 1 was intramedullary. Microscopically all of them showed the classical histology of ependymoma along with lipomatous differentiation. The lipomatous component was composed of cells with a large clear vacuole pushing the nucleus to the periphery and giving a signet ring cell appearance. This component demonstrated positivity for GFAP and S-100 protein thereby confirming its glial lineage. Three of the 5 tumors were high grade (WHO-grade III), had a high MIB-1 labelling index (MIB-1 LI) and showed recurrence on follow-up. However, 2 were low grade (WHO grade II) and patients are free of disease till the last follow up.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 110029, New Delhi, India

    Ashok Kumar Mahapatra

  2. Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 110029, New Delhi, India

    Mehar Chand Sharma, Rina Arora, Ritu Lakhtakia & Chitra Sarkar

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  1. Mehar Chand Sharma
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  2. Rina Arora
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  3. Ritu Lakhtakia
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  4. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra
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  5. Chitra Sarkar
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Correspondence to Chitra Sarkar.

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Sharma, M.C., Arora, R., Lakhtakia, R. et al. Ependymoma with extensive lipidization mimicking adipose tissue: A report of five cases. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 6, 136–140 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03032364

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03032364

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