Subependymoma is a low grade, WHO grade I glial tumour. It develops from the subependymal glial matrix.
These tumours have a very low growth rate, the majority of them being diagnosed by chance during autopsies, even though their intraventricular location may be responsible for signs of hydrocephalus, debuting with headache, nauseas and vomiting or even associated with loss of consciousness.
Even though they may be located at any point of the neural axis, a spinal location is extremely rare as a few more than 30 cases have been reported in the literature, almost all cervical or at the cervicothoracic junction.
Some authors consider them hamartomas, considering that they are lesions reactive to chronic infectious processes. Some cases are associated with astrocytoma or oligodendrocyte strains, and in these cases prognosis is less favourable.
The treatment of choice is surgery in those cases where resection is technically possible. In the case of pure subependymomas, no other treatment will be required after surgery. In those cases where there is a mixed component, treatment should be according to the most aggressive component present, and it may be necessary to include radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
