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Management of tectal glioma in
childhood
Stark AM, Fritsch MJ, Claviez A, Dorner L, Mehdorn HM
Departments of Neurosurgery.
Tectal glioma is a topographical diagnosis including tumors of different
histology, mainly low-grade astrocytomas.
Clinical symptoms are usually
associated with increased intracranial pressure.
This report discusses the
management of this rare tumor in children.
Clinical charts of 12 children
with tectal glioma treated in our department between 1976 and 2001 were
retrospectively reviewed.
The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 6.75
years (range, 4 weeks to 16 years).
The duration between first symptoms and
the diagnosis of tectal glioma was in the range of 2 days to 9 years.
Ten
patients presented with symptoms associated with increased intracranial
pressure, one patient presented with ataxia, and in one case tectal glioma
was an incidental finding.
First-line therapy was endoscopic third
ventriculostomy in 5 cases (42%), ventriculoperitoneal shunting in 6 cases
(50%), and combined partial tumor resection and shunting in one case.
Histology was obtained in 5 cases (low-grade astrocytoma, n = 4; ependymoma,
n = 1).
All patients had good neurologic function at the end of follow-up.
Tectal glioma represents a distinct subgroup of brainstem tumors associated
with a good (or favorable) prognosis.
Effective treatment for hydrocephalus
is essential; the tumor should be monitored by regular clinical examination
and magnetic resonance imaging.
Biopsy is warranted in cases with tumor
progression.
PMID: 15876519 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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