Intrinsic brainstem tumors in childhood: Surgical indications

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Abstract
Sixty-six children with intrinsic brainstem gliomas diagnosed between 1980 and 1986 underwent radical surgical resection. Retrospective analysis permitted classification of tumors into four categories: diffuse, focal, cystic and cervicomedullary. All 27 patients with diffuse tumors had malignant neoplasms, were not benefitted by surgery and died within 12–18 months. Five of nine cystic tumors, three of five focal tumors and twenty of twenty-four cervicomedullary tumors had low grade histpathology and are alive one to six years postoperatively. The authors propose a clinical-neuroradiological criteria that accurately predict which patients with brainstem tumors are likely to benefit from radical surgical intervention.