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Pilocytic astrocytomas are found predominantly in the pediatric population and are extremely rare in elderly patients. We describe a case of pilocytic astrocytoma in an elderly patient who presented with the symptoms of an enlarged tumoral cyst. A 70-year-old woman was found to have an asymptomatic small solid tumor with a cystic component in the right frontal lobe at "Ningen Dock(medical checkup)of the Brain". She was hospitalized and underwent further examinations including cerebral angiography. At that time, she was opposed to undergoing an operation for tumor removal owing to lack of symptoms. Approximately fourteen years later, she presented with dizziness upon posture conversion and recent memory disturbance. Computed tomography scanning revealed an enlarged cyst in the frontal lobe and perifocal edematous changes. Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging partially revealed the solid tumor and cystic capsule. The solid tumor had not enlarged substantially. The cystic fluid was aspirated and the solid tumor was resected via a frontal transcortical approach. The histological diagnosis was pilocytic astrocytoma without malignant features. After surgery, the patient's symptoms improved and additional therapy was not provided. After a year of postoperative follow-up, the size of the cystic lesion has reduced, and no recurrence of the solid tumor has been observed.

A 55-year-old male was admitted to our hospital because of confusion and mild weakness of his left arm and leg. His condition had taken a gradual turn for the worse for several months. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a mixed density mass with multiple cysts and massive perifocal edema. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated an irregular-shaped mass with multiple cysts sized 6 x 4 x 6 cm in the temporal lobe, which manifested mixed signal intensity on both the T1 weighted image and the T2 weighted image. MRI also revealed massive perifocal edema and marked midline shift. Gd-DTPA study showed ring-like enhancement. Angiography showed no tumor stain and a suppressed right posterior cerebral artery. A right extended temporo-occipital craniotomy was performed to extirpate the abscess subtotally. The histological examination showed brain abscess and Gram stain of the pus revealed the presence of gram-positive bacilli. The gram-positive bacillus, Corynebacterium only was subsequently cultured from the pus. After the operation his hemiparesis seemed to disappear. In spite of the treatment with multiple intravenous antibiotics, his hemiparesis worsened again. CT and MRI demonstrated recurrence of the brain abscess in the occipital lobe and marked perifocal edema. The second operation was performed and removed all the infected brain tissue with abscess. After the second operation, otorhinological and cardiovascular examinations were carried out, but no causal disease was found. Immunoelectrophoresis (total protein 12.2 g/d/) revealed the peak of M protein. Bone marrow revealed dysplasia of the plasma cell and he was diagnosed as having multiple myeloma that had made him an immunocompromised host.

A 63-year-old male was admitted to our hospital, complaining of a scalp mass located at the frontoparietal area of his head. He noticed that it had been growing for 2 months. The mass was elastic hard and non-moving. Computed tomography demonstrated a subcutaneous mass with low density and which was enhanced homogeneously. The skull just below the mass was slightly destroyed, but the structure remained. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a mass with low signal intensity on both the T1 weighted image and the T2 weighted image. Gd-DTPA study showed homogeneous enhancement and showed also that the dura just below the mass was enhanced. At this point we couldn't diagnose it confidently, but suspected this lesion to be a malignant lymphoma. We made a general examination, but no other lesion was found. A biopsy of the subcutaneous mass was performed under local anesthesia. The histological diagnosis was large-cell type B-Cell lymphoma. The tumor was treated with chemotherapy, CHOP (cyclophosphamid, doxorubicin, vincristin predonisolone). It responded to this chemotherapy and disappeared. We treated this lesion without radiation therapy. We report a case of subcutaneous malignant lymphoma treated successfully with a minimum invasive method.