juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma
Meaning of juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma: Juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, most often diagnosed in children, forms from star shaped supportive brain cells and typically grows slowly with well defined borders.
Definition of juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma
Juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma is a slow growing tumor of the central nervous system that forms from astrocytes, star shaped supportive cells within the glial tissue that surrounds and supports neurons in the brain and spinal cord. It most often develops in children and young adults and forms more often within the brain than in the spinal cord.
The tumor's cells characteristically appear long and hair like under the microscope, a pilocytic pattern that gives the tumor its name and helps distinguish it from more aggressive forms of astrocytoma. This appearance generally corresponds to slow, contained growth rather than rapid or invasive spread into surrounding brain tissue.
Because of its typically slow growth and well defined borders, juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma is often described using the general term pilocytic astrocytoma as well, without the word juvenile, since the tumor's biology rather than a person's specific age defines the diagnosis.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Imaging revealed a mass in the cerebellum later confirmed as juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma on biopsy.
Good to know
Despite the name, juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma is defined by its tumor biology rather than strictly by age, and pathology reports increasingly favor the shorter term pilocytic astrocytoma over the juvenile qualifier.
Word origin
Where “juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma” comes from
Astrocytoma is formed from Greek astron, meaning star, and kytos, meaning cell, combined with the suffix -oma, meaning tumor, describing a tumor of star shaped supportive brain cells; juvenile derives from Latin juvenis, meaning young.