Localization of congenital glioblastomas in the Japanese: a case report and review of the literature.

We report a rare case of glioblastoma that was definitely congenital. Most congenital glioblastomas arise in the cerebral hemispheres. Four cases of congenital glioblastoma have been reported in the literature from Asian countries, two from Japan and the others from Korea. Two Japanese cases arose in the cerebello-pontine angle, and a cerebellar hemisphere, respectively. In contrast, both known Korean cases and Euro-American cases arose in cerebral hemispheres. Surprisingly, the parents of the present patient were Korean. When we reviewed the world literature on congenital glioblastomas, we recognized that in Japanese patients this tumor did not tend to occur in a cerebral hemisphere. This deviation of the localization may have biological reasons, such as genetic or environmental factors.