Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan-Mar;10(1):50.
doi: 10.4103/1793-5482.151516.

Medulloblastoma: A common pediatric tumor: Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome

Lachi Pavan Kumar  1 , Syed Fayaz Ahmed J Deepa  1 , I Moinca  1 , P Suresh  1 , K V J R Naidu  1
Affiliations

Medulloblastoma: A common pediatric tumor: Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome

Lachi Pavan Kumar et al. Asian J Neurosurg. 2015 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Background: Medulloblastoma is a common malignancy in the pediatric population, accounting for 25% of all childhood brain tumors and relatively uncommon in adults. This review was to investigate treatment outcome and prognostic factors after treatment of medulloblastoma.

Materials and methods: A total of 53 patients with histological confirmed medulloblastoma cases treated at our institute between 2006 and 2012 were included in the study. Demographic variables, clinical variables, radiological findings and treatment details with respect to age, sex, signs and symptoms, location of tumor, extent of surgical resection, histopathology type, radiotherapy dose, follow-up period and outcomes were recorded. Survival was analyzed by using these parameters.

Results: Thirty-one (58.5%) patients were pediatric (<14 years), and 22 (41.5%) patients were adults (≥14 years). Duration of symptoms were <3 months in 19 (36%) and more than 3 months in 34 (64%) patients. Tumor resection was performed in all patients with gross total resection in 8 (15%) patients, near total resection in 34 (64%) patients and subtotal resection in 11 (21%) patients. All patients underwent postoperative craniospinal irradiation (CSI) delivering a median craniospinal dose of 36 Gy with additional boosts to the posterior fossa up to 54 Gy. Median overall survival was 50 months for the total group whereas 36 months for pediatric age group and 70 months for adult group. Desmoplastic histology showed an improved outcome compared with other histologies with a median survival of 71 months compared with that of classical medulloblastoma histology being 36 months and other histologies shown a median survival of 34 only.

Conclusions: Treatment of medulloblastoma with surgery and CSI yields long survival rates in both children and adults. Adult age group and desmoplastic histology were associated with a favorable outcome.

Keywords: Desmoplastic medulloblastoma; medulloblastoma; pediatric brain tumor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival analysis according to age groups
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival analysis according to Histology
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rorke LB. The cerebellar medulloblastoma and its relationship to primitive neuroectodermal tumors. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1983;42:1–15. - PubMed
    1. Rosner B. 5th ed. Duxbury; 2000. Fundamentals of Biostatistics; pp. 80–240.
    1. Riffenburg RH. 2nd ed. Academic Press; 2005. Statistics in Medicine; pp. 85–125.
    1. Sunder Rao PS, Richard J. 4th ed. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India; 2006. An Introduction to Biostatistics. A Manual for Students in Health Sciences; pp. 86–160.
    1. Suresh K, Chandrashekara S. Sample size estimation and power analysis for clinical research studies. J Hum Reprod Sci. 2012;5:7–13. - PMC - PubMed