From Ataxia to Diagnosis of Askin Tumor – a Case Report

Bašković, Marko; Župančić, Božidar; Žganjer, Mirko; Nikolić, Igor; Ježek, Davor; Čizmić, Lucija

doi:10.14712/18059694.2018.53

Acta Medica > Archive > 2018, Vol. 61 > Issue 2 > From Ataxia to Diagnosis of Askin Tumor…

Acta Med. 2018, 61: 60-64

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2018.53

From Ataxia to Diagnosis of Askin Tumor – a Case Report

Marko Bašković^a, Božidar Župančić^a, Mirko Žganjer^a, Igor Nikolić^b, Davor Ježek^c, Lucija Čizmić^d

^aDepartment of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
^bDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Clinical Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia
^cDepartment of Histology and Embriology, University of Zagreb, School of Medicine, Croatia
^dUniversity of Zagreb, School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia

Received August 2, 2017
Accepted June 5, 2018

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNET) are a group of extremely rare, aggressive, malignant tumors that are most often found in the thorax (Askin tumor), abdomen, pelvis, extremities and less frequently in the head and neck. The most important prognostic factor is the stage of the tumor. Significant progress both in surgery and in neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as the improvement in diagnosis by cytogenetic and immunohistochemical analysis, should improve the survival rate. We report a case of a 14-year-old girl, with ataxic gait, cardiopulmonary compensated, without respiratory symptoms, who was referred to our hospital for further examination and treatment of newly discovered tumor of the left hemithorax. After a detailed radiological and laboratory investigation, next step was an extensive thoraco-neurosurgical surgery. After histopathological, cytological and molecular analysis, a diagnosis of Askin tumor was made.