Outcomes after surgery for central neurocytoma: results of a French multicentre retrospective study

Abstract

Central neurocytoma (CN) is a rare intraventricular tumour. Surgery has been highly recommended for CN, although it entails a significant chance to harm the patient. We aimed to provide new data that would support surgical decision-making and optimise patient information about outcomes after surgery. Under the auspices of the French Society of Neurosurgery, we conducted a multi-institutional database search in 23 academic hospitals. In all, we reviewed the relevant clinical and radiological data of 82 patients who were operated on for CN between 1984 and 2008, and had their diagnosis confirmed by central pathological review. The median follow-up was 61 months (range, 6-96 months). Gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in 48 % of the patients, and subtotal resection (STR) in 52 %. The 5-year overall survival rate was 93.8 % (95 % CI, 93.7-93.9). The 5-year progression-free survival rate was 92.1 % (95 % CI, 91.90-92.2) in patients who underwent GTR, compared with 55.3 % (95 % CI, 55.1-55.5) in patients who had STR (p = 0.01). The overall perioperative complication rate was 66 %. The main causes of postoperative disability were some degree of postoperative paresis and/or aphasia (39 %), memory difficulties (29 %) and temporary hydrocephalus (26 %). GTR was not associated with an increased rate of postoperative complications compared with STR. At last follow-up, Karnofsky Performance Score was at least equal to 80 for 90.6 % of the tested patients. Our series emphasised that maximal surgical resection of CNs offers favourable benefit-risk ratio. These data are of importance to properly counsel patients regarding expected outcomes, and to plan relevant preoperative and postoperative investigations like language and memory function evaluation.