THE HISTOPATHOLOGIC AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY OF AN INTIMAL INTRACRANIAL SARCOMA WITH TRANSLUMINAL CELL MIGRATION

摘要

The goal of this study is to show the histological and ultrastructural features of an intimal intracranial sarcoma, a peculiar tumor, using the light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The intracranial segment, containing the primary tumor, was obtained by surgical resection from a 68 years aged patient, who had a temporal-parietal, recurred glioblastoma. At histological examination, an intravascular tumor with massive intraluminal growth, composed of spindle and vacuolated cells, surrounded by a dense extracellular matrix was discovered, having the origin in the very thickened arterial intima. At ultrastructural level, it was found that the tumor cells are poorly differentiated, having a large nucleus with granular coarse chromatin and a small quantity of non-specialized cytoplasm, some of them surrounded by a basal lamina and collagen fibers. Most of these cells have a peripherally condensed chromatin, suggesting apoptotic cell death. The cell type involved in this case was, in our opinion, the poorly differentiated myointimal cell. As a conclusion, this case, characterized by massive endoluminal proliferation as well as by intratumoral significant apoptosis offers, for the first time in the literature, a histological demonstration of a transmural migration of cells of an intimal sarcoma.