Surgical management of huge pediatric brain tumors in Egypt: A model from developing countries.

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

Neurosurgery Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

To study the demographic and histopathologic profile of pediatric patients with huge supratentorial pediatric brain tumors presented at Alexandria Neurosurgery Department between May 2016 and February 2020
Materials and Methods A total of 12 cases of huge supratentorial pediatric brain tumors who had initial surgical resection were studied retrospectively considering the clinical characteristics of these patients, surgical management, clinical outcome, and other needed adjuvant treatment.
Results Among 8 boys and 4 girls, 9 underwent GTR, and 1 underwent STR. Partial resection and biopsy were achieved in only 2 cases.
Transcortical or pterional approach were used for surgical management of these huge supratentorial tumors, and there was no significant difference between the approaches in terms of effects and complications. Tumors with calcification or adhesion had a significant lower gross total resection rate.
Conclusion Huge supratentorial pediatric brain tumors are surgically challenging. Total resection is the best treatment. Calcifications or adhesions affect the gross total resection of the tumor considering optimal postoperative functional outcome.
Prognosis of pediatric supratentorial brain tumors depends on the age at presentation, size of the tumor, histological type, and extent of resection.
Keywords Huge pediatric brain tumors, ATRT, ETMR.
No funding was received for this research.
There is no conflict of interest.
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine in Alexandria University, Egypt (IRB No.: 00012098, FWA No.: 00018699)

Keywords