An infant with hyperalertness, hyperkinesis, and failure to thrive: a rare diencephalic syndrome due to hypothalamic anaplastic astrocytoma

BMC Cancer

Case Report

Maurizio Lucchesi¹  Iacopo Sardi¹  Maurizio de Martino¹  Alessia Stival¹  Silvia Farina¹  Lorenzo Genitori²  Anna Maria Buccoliero³  Francesca Castiglione³ 

[1] Neuro-oncology Unit, Department of Paediatric Medicine, Anna Meyer Children’s University Hospital and Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy;Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Anna Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy;Pathology Unit, Anna Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy;

关键词: Celiac Disease;    Cancer Cachexia;    Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation;    RANO Criterion;    Chemotherapy Program;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-015-1626-x

 received in 2014-08-10, accepted in 2015-06-14,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDiencephalic Syndrome is a rare clinical condition of failure to thrive despite a normal caloric intake, hyperalertness, hyperkinesis, and euphoria usually associated with low-grade hypothalamic astrocytomas.Case presentationWe reported an unusual case of diencephalic cachexia due to hypothalamic anaplastic astrocytoma (WHO-grade III). Baseline endocrine function evaluation was performed in this patient before surgery. After histological diagnosis, he enrolled to a chemotherapy program with sequential high-dose chemotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell rescue. The last MRI evaluation showed a good response. The patient is still alive with good visual function 21 months after starting chemotherapy.ConclusionsDiencephalic cachexia can rarely be due to high-grade hypothalamic astrocytoma. We suggest that a nutritional support with chemotherapy given to high doses without radiotherapy could be an effective strategy for treatment of a poor-prognosis disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Stival et al. 2015