Survival results in adult patients treated for medulloblastoma

Abstract

The records of all 27 adult patients (age, greater than or equal to 16 years) diagnosed with cerebellar medulloblastoma between 1968 and 1986 were reviewed. Twenty-four patients (89%) were treated with postoperative megavoltage irradiation. Twenty of these patients underwent craniospinal irradiation. Sixteen patients received greater than 5000 cGy to the posterior fossa (range, 2340 to 6600 cGy; median, 5490 cGy). Forty-eight percent of patients also received adjuvant chemotherapy. A 5-year and 10-year actuarial survival rate of 48% was achieved. The use of adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve survival in this series. All relapses occurred within 35 months of diagnosis (median time to relapse, 23.5 months), except one patient who had a recurrence in the posterior fossa at 140 months. The posterior fossa was the most common site of treatment failure and represented 50% of all initial relapses. All survivors had no sequelae, except one in whom leukoencephalopathy developed after craniospinal irradiation and intrathecal methotrexate administration. The survival results obtained in this series compare favorably with other reported modern adult medulloblastoma series.