Glioblastoma Mimicking Herpes Simplex Encephalitis

We report a case of 70-year-old man with glioblastoma presenting as acute encephalitic illness. The patient exhibited sudden onset of cognitive impairment and headache for 2 days. Initial brain MRI showed left temporal lobe hyperintensity, and cerebrospinal fluid cytology revealed a mild pleocytosis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Korean Neurosurgical Society Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 119 - 122
Main Authors Nam, Tai-Seung, Choi, Kang-Ho, Kim, Myeong-Kyu, Cho, Ki-Hyun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Korea (South) The Korean Neurosurgical Society 01.08.2011
대한신경외과학회
Subjects
Case Report
신경외과학
Herpes simplex encephalitis
Glioblastoma
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN2005-3711
1598-7876
1598-7876
DOI10.3340/jkns.2011.50.2.119

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Summary:We report a case of 70-year-old man with glioblastoma presenting as acute encephalitic illness. The patient exhibited sudden onset of cognitive impairment and headache for 2 days. Initial brain MRI showed left temporal lobe hyperintensity, and cerebrospinal fluid cytology revealed a mild pleocytosis. The patient had initially improved after medical treatment with a presumptive diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE). After 8 months, the patient complained of recurrent seizures. A follow-up brain MRI revealed marked increases in size and surrounding perilesional edema in the left temporal lesion on T2-weighted images and a new contrast-enhancing lesion on gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted images. Stereotactic brain biopsy revealed a glioblastoma. The atypical encephalitic presentation of glioblastoma should be considered if definitive evidence for the diagnosis of HSE cannot be obtained.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Case Study-2
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G704-001031.2011.50.2.007
ISSN:2005-3711
1598-7876
1598-7876
DOI:10.3340/jkns.2011.50.2.119