Forteza SM, Pérez TM, García SD, Alert SJ

Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 70-78
PDF size: 175.82 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: ependymomas account for 2 to 3 % of all primary brain tumors. About 30 % of the pediatric ependymomas are diagnosed in children under three years of age. The location of ependymomas varies with age. In adults, 60 % occur in the spinal cord, whereas in children they occur in the brain, mainly in the posterior cranial fossa.
Objective: describe the clinical characteristics, treatment and survival of patients diagnosed with ependymoma cared for at the Oncopediatrics service of the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology.
Methods: a retrospective longitudinal descriptive study was conducted from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 based on demographic, clinical and therapeutic variables. The patients were identified using data obtained from databases from hospital records at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology. All the patients with a histological diagnosis of the disease were selected.
Results: twenty patients were selected, with a slight predominance of the male sex (45 %) and a mean age of 5.3 years (range 0-9 years). The most common treatment was the combination of surgery plus radiotherapy and chemotherapy (45 %), followed by surgery plus radiotherapy (30 %). Current survival is 47 %.
Conclusions: ependymomas are infrequent tumors. The treatment of choice is total resection, accompanied by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, depending on the histological type and resection grade.