Medicine & USMLE

Ependymoma

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Brain Tumors
  1. Craniopharyngioma
  2. Oligodendroglioma
  3. Schwannoma
  4. Glioblastoma Multiforme (Grade IV Astrocytoma)
  5. Meningioma
  6. Ependymoma
  7. Pinealoma
  8. Pilocytic Astrocytoma
  9. Medulloblastoma
  10. Pituitary Adenoma
  11. Hemangioblastoma

Ependymoma is a pediatric brain tumor of ependymal cells, which line the ventricles of the brain.

The tumor most often occurs in children, in which the fourth ventricle is the most common location. Blockage of CSF outflow through the fourth ventricle can cause non-communicating hydrocephalus.

Biopsy of the tumor will show perivascular pseudorosettes of tumor cells arranged in a flower-like pattern around blood vessels. Additionally, electron microscopy will show rod-like blepharoplasts (basal ciliary bodies), a finding that is almost pathognomonic for ependymoma.

Find Ependymoma and other Neurological Disorders among Pixorize's visual mnemonics for the USMLE Step 1 and NBME Shelf Exams.