CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgical Oncology
Secondary Exophytic Glioblastoma of the Cerebellopontine Angle: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Provisionally accepted
- West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Purpose: Glioblastoma (GB), a World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV astrocytoma, is the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults, with a median survival of 12-15 months despite multimodal therapy involving maximal safe resection, radiotherapy, and temozolomide. While GB predominantly arises in the supratentorial region, brainstem glioblastoma (BS-GB) represents an exceptionally rare and clinically devastating subset, accounting for only 1-2% of all GBs. Methods and results: We report a case of a 54-year-old male patient who presented with dizziness and diplopia for half a year. Examination revealed abnormal signals in the right cerebellopontine angle, cerebellar hemisphere, and brainstem. After hormone shock and antiviral treatment, the patient's symptoms did not improve and continued to worsen. We performed a lesion biopsy on the patient. During the operation, we found a space-occupying lesion in the pontocerebellar region. The pathological examination suggested GB. After the surgery, the patient's symptoms improved and he received regular radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Conclusion: Cases in which abnormal signals are simultaneously present in the right cerebellopontine angle, cerebellar hemisphere, and brainstem are extremely rare. After craniotomy and exploration, it was found that some of the abnormal signals were GB and some were inflammation. After surgical treatment, the patient's symptoms were relieved. This case provides treatment ideas for patients suspected of having intracranial inflammatory lesions but who have not shown improvement despite continuous medical treatment, thereby broadening the treatment perspective.
Keywords: Glioblastoma, Encephalitis, Surgery, Cerebellopontine Angle, Cerebellar hemisphere, brainstem
Received: 06 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dai, Jiang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Peizhi Zhou
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