Prognostic factors in medulloblastoma

Abstract

Medulloblastoma is a highly malignant cerebellar tumor of children and, less frequently, of adults, with a tendency to early recurrence and dissemination through the cerebrospinal fluid. The prognosis has improved significantly in recent decades, in parallel with the improvement in neurosurgical techniques and the use of postoperative radiotherapy. An overview is given of the prognostic role of clinical and pathological features of individual cases as reported in the literature. Apart from the presence or absence of metastases at diagnosis and the radiotherapy modality, none of the factors studied was generally thought to have a definite significant prognostic role. The extent of surgical excision seems to influence survival more in pediatric cases than in adults. Ongoing cytogenetic studies and molecular biology investigations are aimed at better categorization of medulloblastomas and individualized postoperative treatment.