Primary gliosarcoma with widespread extracranial metastases—spatiotemporal morphological variation

Background We summarize 5 cases of primary gliosarcoma with widespread extracranial metastases including our case. The glial components are eliminated due to the needs of the living environment in the process of parasitism and survival of brain glioma-sarcoma cells in lung metastasis. Methods A PubMed search using the keywords "gliosarcoma" and "extracranial metastases" was performed followed by a review of cited literature. Our case was a 50-year-old female presented with headache and dizziness. MRI examination showed that there was a cystic solid tumor in the right temporal lobe. The tumor was removed totally. Seven months after the operation, the patient suffered recurrent intermittent headache. The resection for the recurrent tumor was performed. Postoperative pathology confirmed the recurrent gliosarcoma. A needle biopsy was performed for the nodular on the right lung. The lung tumor pathology suggested a sarcoma structure. Results There was a female patient in five cases. The age range is 47 to 69 years old. The tumor recurred within a year. A combination of treatment modalities may extend survival; however, the prognosis remains poor. Conclusion Primary gliosarcoma with extracranial metastases is extremely rare. Some findings uncovered an unexpected spatiotemporal morphological variation in the different foci of the same malignancy. Keywords: Brain gliosarcomas, Extracranial metastasis, Spatiotemporal morphological variation