A rare brain tumor on an eye nerve was mistaken for a different tumor
Original title: Primary Extra-Axial Oculomotor Nerve Glioblastoma with Intra-Tumoral Hemorrhage Masquerading as Schwannoma: Illustrative Case Report and Literature Review.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This is a report on one patient and a look back at past cases, not a treatment you can get.
The short version
One woman's tumor looked like a common nerve tumor on her scan, but tests after surgery showed it was glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary.
What was studied. Doctors report on a 57-year-old woman who had a headache, trouble with the nerve that moves the eye, weakness on her left side, and confusion. They also looked back at past reports of glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary growing on the nerves that come off the brain.
What they found. Her MRI pointed to a schwannoma, a tumor that grows on a nerve. A CT scan showed bleeding inside the tumor, and during surgery it looked like the tumor came from the nerve that moves the eye. Testing the tissue showed it was glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary instead. Only three cases on this nerve had been reported before, and none of them had bleeding inside the tumor. Of the four reported cases, including this one, three were female.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Scans do not always tell doctors what a tumor really is. A tumor sitting on a nerve, outside the brain itself, can still turn out to be glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary. The authors say doctors should keep that possibility in mind. Testing the tissue is what gives the real answer.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a new treatment, and it is not a cure. It is a report on one patient plus a look back at a few past cases. Four cases in total is very little to go on. It does not mean your own scan is wrong. It does not change the care a patient gets today.
Source: PubMed, July 21, 2026 · Read the original
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