Astrocytoma

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  • 35-year-old patient with 2 month history of headache presented after a tonic-clonic seizure.
  • Imaging showed a quite well defined T2-hyperintense non-enhancing lesion.
  • Low FLAIR signal in more than half of the tumour representing the T2-FLAIR mismatch sign suggested an astrocytoma that was confirmed on histopathology following resection.

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  • A 35-year-old patient presented with a worsening headache and blurry vision.
  • Imaging showed a large subcortical lesion centred in the left temporal lobe.
  • The low CBV and T2-FLAIR mismatch sign were compatible with the histopathological diagnosis of a grade 2 astrocytoma.

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  • A 40 year old presented with with memory issues and headache.
  • MRI showed two large lesions, one in each hemisphere that did not show any enhancement but there were low ADC values within the left sided lesion.
  • Initial histopathlogy suggested a grade 2 astrocytoma however, following molecular anlysis, this was upgrade to a grade 4 astrocytoma on the basis of a CDKN2A/B deletion.

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  • A 20-year-old patient with Li Fraumeni Syndrome presented following a seizure.
  • MRI showed a left frontal lesion with a T2-FLAIR mismatch (hyperintense on T2 and more than half of the lesion hypointense on FLAIR).
  • On follow-up imaging 18 months later, spiculated enhancement developed iwthin the tumour, which corresponded to an a region of low values on ADC.
  • CBV was elevated (ratio of 4 relative to normal appearing brain tissue) and MR spectrscopy showed reversal of Hunter's angle (elevated choline and reduced NAA).
  • Following resection, a grade 3 astrocytoma was diagnosed.