Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

January 2008, Case 801-1. Quiz set! Click here to see.

A rapidly expanding mass in the posterior fossa of a 4 year-old girl.

Clinical informationThe patient was a 4 year-old girl. She was admitted to the emergency room about 6 months ago because of trauma. An MRI performed at that time did not demonstrate any lesion in the brain. She presented recently with headache and ataxia and was brought to her physician again. An MRI revealed a large eccentric mass in the posterior fossa that was enhancing. The mass was excised and yielded the following representative images.

 Click thumbnails to see pictures. Panel A to C are intraoperative cytologic preparations, D and E are frozen sections, F to H are permanent sections.

What is your diagnosis? What other tests would help to confirm the diagnosis? Discussion

Cases of the Month Coordinator: KarMing-Fung@ouhsc.edu