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Objective: To present 6 cases of pilocytic astrocytomas whose clinic, epidemiological and histopathological aspects were studied., Methods: Between 1990 and 1994 the records of the laboratories of pathology of the main hospitals in Curitiba were analysed and all cases of pilocytic astrocytomas were studied with special attention to age of onset, sex and site of the lesions. The biopsies, which were reviewed, have been processed according to conventional techniques and in a few cases electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry was further done., Results: Five patients were females and 1 was male. Medium age was 4,5 years (range 1-8). The pilocytic astrocytomas affected optic chiasm (n=3), midline of cerebral hemisfere (n=2) and third ventricle (n=1). The symptoms reflected the location and extension of the tumour. The commonest signs and symptoms were those of intracranial hypertension, visual disturbances, hydrocephalus, among others. The patients were treated with surgical ressection and chemotherapy. Three patients died after a medium survival of 45 days, and three remain alive., Conclusions: The authors emphasize that pilocytic astrocytoma, mainly the juvenile variant, affect mostly the midline brain structures of infants through signs of visual disturbance. These lesions are low grade astrocytomas and should be treated predominantly by total surgical ressection.

The authors have retrospectively reviewed all tumors of central nervous system (CNS) operated at the most important neurosurgery hospitals of Curitiba in a 5-year period (1990-1994) and found 304 (22.4%) cases of meningioma. Age mean of the patients was 48.5 years, with a range of 3 to 90 years. A marked female preponderance (68.7%) was noted. The most common tumor location was brain (n = 280) and the remaining cases occurred in spinal cord (n = 10), cerebellum (n = 9) and cranial nerves (n = 5). Histologically, there were 294 (96.7%) meningiomas of the classical type, six malignant or anaplastic, three atypical and one papillary. Two hundred and sixty seven classical meningiomas were from the meningotelial subtype, ten psamomatousos, five fibroblastic, five microcystic, five transicional and two angiomatous. The authors conclude that meningiomas are one of the most common group of primary neoplasias of CNS and the definition of malignancy in those tumors is beset by frequent discordance between histologic and biologic features.

Optic nerve gliomas may occur alone or as components of neurofibromatosis. They are rare tumors accounting for 2 to 5% of all intracranial tumors and 6% of the intra-orbitary neoplasms. The authors present 11 cases of optic nerve-glioma diagnosed in Curitiba in the last 25 years. Out of these 11 patients there were 10 women and only 1 man. The ages ranged from 3 to 25 years old, and 6 patients were under 15 years. In this series, 27.3% (n = 3) of the cases were associated with neurofibromatosis. Five patients had their tumors restricted to the optic nerve while the others had either extension to the optic chiasm, supra-selar region, frontal or temporal lobe. All the patients had pilocytic astrocytomas.