Secondary supratentorial anaplastic astrocytoma following treatment of medulloblastoma.

The development of secondary tumours is a rare but well known late effect of radiation therapy of lesions in the central nervous system. Most radiation-induced tumours are of mesenchymal origin, but on rare occasions gliomas can occur. We describe a patient in whom a supratentorial anaplastic astrocytoma developed 15 years after surgery and radiotherapy for a childhood posterior fossa medulloblastoma. A concise review of the pertinent literature is given.