Age, Sex, Location and Histopathological Diagnosis of 365 Cases of Childhood Brain Tumor.

Wang, Kyu Chang; Cho, Byung Kyu

Original Article

Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 1994;23(5): 561-570.

Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

ABSTRACT

To figure out the occurrence pattern of pediatric brain tumors in the aspects of age, sex, location and histopathological diagnosis, 365 cases of pediatric(age less than 16 year) brain tumor which were operated upon at the Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Hospital from January 1959 to June 1993, were reviewed. Only the tumors, of which the pathological specimens were taken, were included. Tumors of bone origin or purely extradural mass, non-tumorous cystic lesions and vascular malformations were excluded. The mean age of 365 cases was 8.1 years and the sex ratio(M : F) was 1.3 : 1. Supratentorial tumors(56.2%) were more prevalent than infratentorial tumors(43.4%). Neuroepithelial tumors comprised of 64.4% of the 365 brain tumors. Forth three percent of the neuroepithelial tumors were embryonal origin such as medulloblastoma(MBL), primitive neuroectodermal tumor(PNET) and ependymoblastoma. Pathological common tumors were astrocytic tumor(22.7%), MBL(20.0%), craniopharyngioma(13.4%), germ cell tumor(GCT, 8.8%), PNET(6.6%), and ependymal tumor(6.3%) in the order of decreasing frequency. PNET and ependymal tumors were frequent in early childhood while pituitary adenoma and non-teratomatous GCT were common in older children. GCT, PNET and ependymoma were prevalent in male. The relative incidences of GCT, PNET, brain stem glioma, oligodendroglial tumor, pituitary adenoma and neuronal tumor increased in MRI era. In contrast, those of astrocytic tumor, MBL and ependymal tumor decreased.

Key Words: Brian tumor; Childhood age; Sex; Location; Pathological diagnosis