Tumor cell vanishing with radiological changes suggesting progression in IDH-mutated diffuse astrocytoma treated only with surgery.

The radiological diagnosis of glioma progression is still challenging. A 33-year-old woman diagnosed with a frontal tumor underwent awake craniotomy with total tumor resection. The diagnosis was IDH-mutated diffuse astrocytoma, WHO grade II. The patient did not receive additional radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Periodic MRI scans showed a T2/FLAIR nodular enlargement which appeared de novo and grew slowly and gradually until 4 years post surgery. The patient underwent a second craniotomy to completely resect the T2/FLAIR hyperintensity. In the histological and molecular study of the second resection, no tumor cells were identified. We could hypothesize that the reactive changes favored by surgery could explain the ongoing radiologic findings.
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