Neurológia pre prax 6/2010

Acutely developing glioblastoma multiforme in a young man – a case report

Glioblastoma multiforme is a tumour of older age with a mean survival of about one year from diagnosis. When a brain tumour is suspected, a CT scan is ordered in the case of a focal neurological deficit, following an epileptic seizure or when there are signs of intracranial hypertension. Rarely, however, the tumour may go unnoticed with a subsequent sudden – and often no longer manageable – deterioration of the condition with herniation of the brain tissue or obstruction of the cerebrospinal fluid pathways. The case report presents a patient with a glioblastoma who, despite maximum conservative treatment, progressed from severe headache with a mild right-sided hemiparesis to complete brainstem areflexia during approximately three hours; a tumour was considered in the diagnosis only second to a brain abscess given the patient's young age, intravenous drug use, elevated inflammatory markers and a not completely typical CT finding.

Keywords: glioblastoma multiforme, malignant brain tumour, brain abscess.