Ependymoma
Ependymoma is a tumor that arises from the ependyma, a tissue of the central nervous system. Usually, in pediatric cases the location is intracranial, while in adults it is spinal. The common location of intracranial ependymoma is the fourth ventricle. Rarely, ependymoma can occur in the pelvic cavity.
Syringomyelia can be caused by an ependymoma.
Ependymomas are also seen with neurofibromatosis type II.
Symptoms
severe headache
visual loss (due to papilledema)
vomiting
bilateral Babinski sign
drowsiness (after several hours of the above symptoms)
gait change (rotation of feet when walking)
impaction/constipation
back flexibility
Morphology
Ependymomas are composed of cells with regular, round to oval nuclei. There is a variably dense fibrillary background. Tumor cells may form gland-like round or elongated structures that resemble the embryologic ependymal canal, with long, delicate processes extending into the lumen; more frequently present are perivascular pseudorosettes in which tumor cells are arranged around vessels with an intervening zone consisting of thin ependymal processes directed toward the wall of the vessel.
