Anaplastic astrocytoma with extracranial extension--case report.

A 44-year-old female presented with anaplastic astrocytoma of the right temporal lobe which had destroyed the skull base and extended extracranially. Histologically, the extracranial portion of the tumor was astrocytoma with desmoplastic reaction. She was treated by subtotal tumor removal, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, but died of meningeal dissemination. Spontaneous extradural extension of malignant glioma is rare and always fatal.