Pediatric extraspinal sacrococcygeal ependymoma (ESE): an Italian AIEOP experience of six cases and literature review

Paediatric extra-axial myxopapillary ependymoma: what to expect? Case report and literature review

Extra-axial ependymomas are rare tumours, and myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is the most common subtype in children, often misdiagnosed as other sacral lesions. MPEs are considered low-grade tumours, but relapse with distant metastasis is frequent. Therefore, therefore a proper diagnosis and subsequent follow-up are warranted. The current report presents a case of extra-axial MPE in a paediatric patient who presented with an indolent sacral mass and underwent surgical resection, along with a review of the literature. The aim was to highlight the importance of diagnostic suspicion in differential diagnosis of sacral soft-tissue masses.

Pediatric Extraspinal Subcutaneous Sacrococcygeal Myxopapillary Ependymoma: Case Report and Minireview

ABSTRACT

A 9-year-old girl presented with a slow-growing and painless mass for 7 months in the soft tissue of the sacrococcygeal region. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a well-circumscribed solid mass located in the subcutaneous soft tissue of the sacrococcygeal area, but not affecting bone structures. The mass was completely removed, and the disorder was diagnosed as myxopapillary ependymoma. In addition, the MYCN gene amplification status of the tumor was evaluated. Extra-axial ependymomas are very rare tumors with a tendency to metastasis, but they are usually regarded as low-grade ependymomas. Long-time surveillance and follow-up are necessary even after complete excision. Besides, we also discuss the diagnosis of primary soft tissue myxopapillary ependymoma.

Rare sacral extradural grade II ependymoma: a comprehensive review of literature

Sacral spinal cord ependymoma is an uncommon pathology. Most of the reported cases are consistent with a myxopapillary ependymoma histopathologic subtype. Non-myxopapillary ependymomas rarely occur in the sacral region. Most lesions are intradural; however, rare extradural cases can occur. We present the case of a 46-year-old female patient diagnosed with a grade II sacral extradural ependymoma, emphasising the importance of an interdepartmental case approach for diagnosis and management. Even though grade II ependymomas are considered low grade, the potential for recurrence and metastatic disease has been reported. There are no treatment guidelines for these rare tumours besides gross total resection.

Pediatric Extraspinal Sacrococcygeal Ependymoma: Report of Two Cases and Literature Review

Primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors represent the most common solid tumors in childhood. Ependymomas arise from ependymal cells lining the wall of ventricles or central canal of spinal cord and their occurrence outside the CNS is extremely rare, published in the literature as case reports or small case series. We present two cases of extra-CNS myxopapillary ependymomas treated at our institution in the past three years; both cases originate in the sacrococcygeal region and were initially misdiagnosed as epidermoid cyst and germ cell tumor, respectively. The first case, which arose in a 9-year-old girl, was treated with a surgical excision in two stages, due to the non-radical manner of the first operation; no recurrence was observed after two years of follow-up. The other case was a 12-year-old boy who was treated with a complete resection and showed no evidence of recurrence at one-year follow-up. In this paper, we report our experience in treating an extremely rare disease that lacks a standardized approach to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up; in addition, we perform a literature review of the past 35 years.

Myelopathies from Neoplasms

Benign and malignant tumors can be an important cause of myelopathy. Patients may present with a wide range of neurologic symptoms including back and neck pain, weakness, sensory abnormalities, and bowel and bladder dysfunction. Management can be challenging depending on the location and underlying biology of the tumor. Neuroimaging of the spine is an important component of diagnostic evaluation and patient management both during initial evaluation and when monitoring after treatment. This article provides a systematic and practical review of neoplasms that can cause myelopathy. Unique imaging and biological features of distinct tumors are discussed, and their management strategies are reviewed.

Subcutaneous Sacro Coccygeal Myxopapillary Ependymoma: A Case Report and a Comprehensive Review of the Literature Reappraising Its Current Diagnostic Approach and Management

Sacrococcygeal myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is an uncommon type I glial tumor detected most frequently in the lumbosacral area of adolescents and children. It is usually presented as an intradural ependymal tumor that originates from the filum terminale and other locations within the ventricular system along the craniospinal axis. In rare cases, however, MPE may develop as a primary subcutaneous tumor in the sacrococcygeal area. Tumors can also appear as a dorsal sacrococcygeal growth or subcutaneous nodule. In this case report, we describe a rare case presenting as a subcutaneous sacrococcygeal mass in an elderly female that was subsequently resected and confirmed as subcutaneous MPE. The current standard treatment for MPE is maximal surgical resection with or without postoperative radiotherapy based on the locoregional extent and histological grading. However, there is limited evidence that radiotherapy for oligometastatic foci improves longevity or extends the time to recurrence. In addition to this case report, we provide a comprehensive review of similar cases and case series in the medical literature. Prospective studies evaluating the efficacy of resection and/or radiotherapy are required for improved management of extradural MPE.

Surgical management of a rare myxopapillary ependymoma of the gluteal region: A case report

Background:

Ependymomas are rare tumors originating from neuroepithelial cells lining the wall of the ventricles or central canal of the spinal cord. While these tumors mainly occur within the central nervous system (CNS), there are occasional reports in children and young adult patients with a primary tumor occurrence outside of the CNS. Ependymomas of the sacrococcygeal region have been infrequently described in the literature with no standard of care established. We present a case report and review of the literature regarding this rare entity.

Case Description:

A 24-year-old woman presented with right gluteal pain worsened by sitting and a palpable soft tissue mass of the sacrococcygeal region. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 3.7 cm cystic mass centered in the right gluteal region. She underwent a biopsy at an outside institution, with histology revealing myxopapillary ependymoma. The patient was referred to our hospital and underwent an interdisciplinary neurosurgical and orthopedic oncology en bloc resection of the ependymoma, which intraoperatively appeared to originate from the coccygeal nerve.

Conclusion:

In the present report, the authors demonstrate that a myxopapillary ependymoma may present as an isolated gluteal mass attached to the coccygeal nerve, without frank CNS involvement. Furthermore, an interdisciplinary approach to surgical resection of this lesion appears to represent an effective treatment modality.

Anaplastic Transformation in Myxopapillary Ependymoma: A Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature

Myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is a relatively common neoplasm arising primarily in the filum terminale/lumbosacral region of the spinal cord. It is designated as a grade I tumor in the most recent WHO Classification of Tumours of the CNS, although aggressive clinical behavior can be observed, especially in cases arising in an extradural location. Anaplastic transformation in MPE is exceedingly rare with <20 examples reported in the English literature, and consensus on diagnostic features and definitive grading remain to be determined. Here, we present 2 cases of recurrent MPE with anaplastic features, both of which had histology consistent with conventional MPE as well as areas with significant atypia, frequent mitotic figures, elevated Ki-67 proliferation indices (>10%-50%), necrosis, and focal vascular proliferation. Targeted next-generation sequencing panels revealed no definitive pathogenic mutations or fusion proteins in either case. Copy number profiling, methylation profiling, and t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding were performed to investigate the molecular characteristics of these tumors. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of MPE with anaplastic features with methylation profiling data. In addition, we review the literature and discuss common histologic and molecular findings associated with anaplastic features in MPE.

Extra-axial sacral soft tissue giant cell ependymoma affecting a child: Case report and review of the literature

An otherwise healthy eight-year-old girl presented with a mass in the soft tissue of the sacral region. The lesion was diagnosed as a vascular malformation on imaging studies, for which percutaneous sclerotherapy was attempted. The mass continued to grow and a complete resection was performed after four years. The pathological diagnosis was giant cell ependymoma (GCE). GCE is a term used to describe a rare histologic variant of ependymoma characterized by malignancy-like morphologic phenotype and indolent behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of extra-axial soft tissue sacral GCE reported in a child.

An unexpected diagnosis of paediatric subcutaneous sacrococcygeal extraspinal ependymoma: lessons learnt and review of the literature

This case describes a 9-year-old male who presented to general surgical clinic with a 3-year history of persistent natal cleft swelling, previously unsuccessfully treated as a pilonidal abscess in the community with multiple courses of antibiotics. In clinic, a 50 × 30-mm soft tissue swelling was found in the natal cleft and a clinical diagnosis of a pilonidal cyst was made. A cream-coloured solid mass measuring 50 × 35 × 30 mm was subsequently excised under general anaesthetic, with specialist histology and immunostaining confirming an unexpected diagnosis of a subcutaneous extraspinal myxopapillary ependymoma, a tumour usually found in the neuraxis. Given the atypical anatomical site of the tumour, the case presented a unique management challenge. Ultimately, the patient underwent a re-operation after specialist multi-disciplinary discussion and is currently disease free at 18 months post-surgery. The authors wish to contribute their experiences of managing this rare extraspinal ependymoma to the few existing reports in the literature.

Clinicopathologic features of anaplastic myxopapillary ependymomas

Myxopapillary ependymomas (MPE) are considered benign (World Health Organization (WHO) grade I) neoplasms with favorable prognosis. However, malignant behavior occurs in a small subset. To our knowledge, only five anaplastic MPEs have been reported without consensus on diagnostic criteria. We retrieved 14 anaplastic MPEs from the pathology archives of six institutions. Each tumor included at least two of the following features: ≥5 mitoses per 10 high power fields, Ki-67 labeling index (LI) ≥10%, microvascular proliferation (MVP) and spontaneous necrosis. These features were typically encountered in the foci of hypercellularity and reduced mucin. There were eight male and six female patients (age range 6-57 years, median = 16.5). Ten tumors displayed anaplasia at initial resection, and 4 were anaplastic at a second surgery for recurrence (ranging from 9 months to 14 years following initial resection). The Ki-67 LI ranged between 8% and 40% in the anaplastic foci and <3% in the foci of classic MPE. There was documented cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dissemination in seven cases, recurrence following an anaplastic diagnosis in three cases and bone or soft tissue invasion in two cases. One patient suffered lung metastases. Two cases evaluated by targeted next-generation sequencing and one evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed nonspecific chromosomal gains. We conclude that although rare, anaplastic MPE occurs in both pediatric and adult patients, similar to other ependymomas. At a minimum, closer follow-up is recommended, given the concern for aggressive biologic potential. Further study is needed to determine WHO grading criteria and genetic indicators of tumor progression.