Case report: a rare case of pediatric conus medularis glioblastoma multiforme.

Med J Malaysia Vol 67 No 4 August 2012 INTRODUCTION Despite astrocytomas being the most common primary central nervous system (CNS) neoplasm they rarely occur in the spinal cord. Intramedullary spinal cord (IMSC) astrocytoma can occur in any age group but it is rare among those more than 60 year old. In the pediatric age group, 59% of IMSC lesions are astrocytomas with a slight male predominance. Most (85-90%) IMSC astrocytomas are low grade lesions with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) accounting for only about 1-3% of all IMSC primary astrocytomas. There have been less than 200 cases of IMSC GBM reported. IMSC astrocytomas are more frequent at the cervical and thoracic region than the lumbar and conus region. Therefore, GBM of the conus medullaris is an extremely rarity.