研究目的:
intramedullary astrocytoma is a rare and devastating spinal cord glioma. while the management of intracranial astrocytoma includes gross total resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, spinal cord astrocytoma is very difficult to be totally removed due to its infiltrative nature and unclear plane of dissection; Moreover, the use radiotherapy and chemotherapy for spinal cord astrocytoma is controversial. Therefore, the treatment for spinal cord astrocytoma is very limited as compared to its intracranial counterpart. Inadequate understanding of spinal cord astrocytoma mainly contribute to limited treatment, while the molecular profiling of intracranial astrocytoma is relatively well understood. Hence, we performed whole-exome sequencing of intramedullary astrocytoma aiming to identify the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying spinal cord astrocytoma