Clinical analysis of central nervous system tumors in children, a report of 468 cases

Abstract

Objective To investigate the incidence, clinical symptoms, pathological characteristics,treatment and prognosis of central nervous system tumors in childhood.Method During the period from 1999 to 2009,468 cases central nervous system tumors of children ( ≤ 16 years ) were retrospectively analyzed according to WHO 2007 classification.Results Intracranial and spinal tumors were 431 cases (92.1％ ) and 37 cases (7.9％),supratentorial 288 cases (67.0％ ),infratentorial 143 cases (33.0％).Male and female incidence rate is 1.67∶1,and the incidence increased with age growing.The most common types of intracranial tumor followed by astrocytoma ( 26.5％ ),germ cell tumor ( 15.5％ ),craniopharyngioma ( 12.5％ ),medulloblastoma ( 10.2％ ) and ependymoma tumors ( 7.4％ ).The most common types of spinal cord tumor was schwannoma (48.6％ ),astrocytoma (21.6％) and mesenchymal tumor( 13.5％ ).The 2 - year survival rate of patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy/chemotherapy was 83.4％,and the 5 - year survival rate can reach 65.0％.Conclusions Incidence of childhood nervous system tumors was mostly male,supratentorial more than infratentorial,and the most common type was astrocytoma.The clinical features were related with tumor location and age.Surgical treatment was still the main method,and surgery combined with radiotherapy/chemotherapy improves the prognosis. Key words: Central nervous system neoplasms; Child; Therapy