Primary glioblastomas and anaplastic astrocytoma in a glioma family

A 72-year-old man presented with a short duration of symptoms relating to a right fronto-parietal glioblastoma and a family history of children with brain tumours. Analysis of the patient's family tree revealed that out of seven children, he had a living son with anaplastic astrocytoma, a daughter who had died with a glioblastoma, and a son who had died with a histologically undiagnosed intrinsic brain tumour. One niece was also thought to have died from a brain tumour. All of the other affected family members had onset in their third or fourth decades. Tissue was only available from two of the affected individuals, precluding familial genetic analysis at this stage. There is no clinical evidence to support a diagnosis of a multiple cancer or neurocutaneous syndrome in this family. In view of what is known about the genetics of familial glioma, it is interesting to note the clinical evidence of both 'primary' glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma in the same kindred.