Cervicomedullary glioblastoma: A report of two cases with review of literature

BACKGROUND: Cervicomedullary glioblastoma is an extremely rare clinical entity and the principles of its management are not well understood. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report two cases of cervicomedullary glioblastoma in young patients aged 12 and 30 years with contrasting clinical presentation and outcomes. The 12-year-old child had rapid onset bulbar symptoms, with frank infiltration of the medulla due to which the patient succumbed within 4 weeks of surgery. The 30-year-old adult had a relatively slow disease onset and progression and made a good neurological recovery without disease progression at 16 months after surgery. To the best of our knowledge, we also report only the second adult patient in the literature with a dorsally exophytic cervicomedullary glioblastoma. Difficulties in diagnosis and management are discussed with a review of the pertinent literature. CONCLUSION: The overall outcome depends on the rapid progression and severity of preoperative symptoms and the degree of tumor infiltration noted in imaging and during surgery.