Neuroradiology

Central neurocytoma

intraventricular tumour usually with a broad attachment to the superolateral wall of the body of the lateral ventricle, and to the septum pellucidum, suggesting that it usually originates from the subependymal layer that covers the medial aspect of the body of the caudate nucleus. It could originate from a neuroectodermal precursor cell that is present in the subependymal plate of the lateral ventricles. When anaplastic the tumour can extend into adjacent brain tissue. On microscopy, the tumour is made up of small well-differentiated cells with features reminiscent of neuroblastoma or oligodendroglioma.

The patient presents with signs and symptoms of hydrocephalus in the vast majority of cases.

At CT the tumour is inhomogeneously hyperdense, exhibits a moderate degree of contrast enhancement, and contains both multiple small cysts and punctate, scattered calcifications. MR shows similar features, with inhomogeneous signal on both T1- and T2-weighted images.

GS