In 1929, Bailey first described an intracranial sarcomatous tumor as a term of
perithelial sarcoma. The term of microgliomatosis was introduced by Benedek and Juba,
1941. In recent period, malignant lymphoma was widely used rather than many other
terms such as reticulum cell sarcoma, malignant reticulosis, etc.
An autopsy case of microgliomatosis was presented. She was a 33-year-old woman
with headache, ataxia, memory disturbance, defecation and micturition difficulty. She was
relatively well until 3 months earlier before admission. She visited first St. Vincent
Hospital due to memory disturbance, and a tumor was found in her left frontal lobe by
CT scanning of her brain. She was transferred to Kang Nam Sacred Heart Hospital for
further evaluation of the tumor mass. She was given steroid therapy and somewhat
improved in her symptoms.
By follow-up CT scannings, the tumor could not be found. Her general conditions
were progressively deteriorated and died on 85th day of her admission. Brain limited
autopsy was performed. The external features of her brain were grossly unremarkable.
Cut surfaces revealed multiple ill-defined grayish white masses, especially on deep
white matter of left frontal lobe, left cingulate gyrus and white matter together with
medial side of basal ganglia. The definite size was not able to be measured, but the
largest one in left frontal lobe was about 2.5cm. in diameter.
Microscopically, the tumors have many characteristics of microgliomatosis, such as
perivascular arrangement of tumor cells and concentric reticulin condensation. These
microscopic features were seen not only in grossly visible masses but also in other
areas, almost all cerebral hemispheres.
Literature review on microgliomatosis and a case report were done.
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