A forum dedicated to the expansion in neuropathology knowledge for students and practitioners alike.
Part 1 of a three-part series reviewing the effects of radiation on the brain. Radiation is commonly used to treat a wide variety of neoplastic conditions and often has great success, but sometimes the treatment can cause additional problems. Join me on a narrated tour of radiation’s dark side in this review of radiation necrosis... Continue Reading →
COVID-19 autopsy case: a clinicopathologic report and narrated review of lung, heart, and other autopsy pathology findings in a previously healthy woman, including discussion of discordant cardiac findings in this patient with clinical suspicion of viral myocarditis. https://youtu.be/LV7SFxapsRE
Join me for a narrated pathology review of breast cancer (ductal adenocarcinoma) metastatic to brain. https://youtu.be/EkRq-Vs5WoU
Take an anatomy tour through a coronal section of the normal brain at the level of the anterior commisure. Join me as I review the major neuroanatomical structures of the normal brain, touching on structures that are important to normal functioning and also key players in certain disease processes. https://youtu.be/lwF0AySb0c0
Ependymomas are tumors that arise from specialized glia called ependymal cells, which line the central cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) containing spaces within the brain and spinal cord called the ventricles and central canal, respectively. When ependymomas occur in the spinal cord, their central location requires that the surgeon cut through the spinal cord in order... Continue Reading →
On gross examination, hemangioblastoma characteristically exhibits a yellow to yellow-orange color (similar to that of adipose tissue) due to the presence of lipid within the cytoplasm of neoplastic cells. On microscopic examination, the cells appear clear because the lipid that once filled the cytoplasm was washed out during tissue processing. Hemangioblastoma usually arises within the... Continue Reading →
The pineal gland is a midline structure involved in the regulation of circadian rhythm. The "internal clock" that allows for coordination of sleep and wake cycles with changes in night and day is largely regulated by the actions of melatonin, a neurotransmitter that is produced by the constituent cell of the pineal gland: the pinealocyte. Pinealocytes give rise to a rare group of tumors... Continue Reading →
The dorsal root ganglia consist of the cell bodies of sensory afferent neurons and are located along either side of the spinal cord. These unipolar neurons characteristically have large cell bodies, which are needed to support the very long axons that carry sensory information from the distal extremities to the cord. Normal ganglia (such as the one... Continue Reading →
Cell division occurs in four major stages (prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase) during which DNA duplicates itself and condenses, chromosomes centrally align and are pulled apart by two centrosomes on either side of the cell, and the cytoplasm separates to form two separate daughter cells. Cancer cells are able to enter into cell division by bypassing the usual complex ballet of cell... Continue Reading →
Intracranial schwannomas most commonly arise from the vestibular portion of the Vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII). The central/proximal aspect of the nerve is myelinated by oligodendroglial cells whereas the distal/peripheral aspect is myelinated by Schwann cells. These distally located Schwann cells give rise to vestibular schwannomas that originate in the distal aspect of the nerve, usually within the internal auditory canal where it... Continue Reading →
Adventures in Neuropathology 