Abstract INTRODUCTION Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumour in children. The overall outcome has improved however, this was not translated to developing nations. METHOD This was a retrospective… Click to show full abstract
Abstract INTRODUCTION Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumour in children. The overall outcome has improved however, this was not translated to developing nations. METHOD This was a retrospective review of patients from January 2000 to December 2017. Treatment was given using modified SIOP PNET 4 protocol: cranio spinal irradiation (CSI), a total of 54G with vincristine followed by 8 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. Prior to year 2007, patients had CSI with or without adjuvant chemotherapy. Those <3 years old received modified UKCCSG/SIOP CNS protocol with 2 weekly chemotherapy for a duration of 392 days followed by CSI when required. All patients had MRI brain and spine, and tissue histopathological examination but without molecular subtype. RESULTS Medulloblastoma comprised of 30% (n=31) out of total 103 brain tumour cases. Mean age at presentation was 7.6 years old (SD 4.4) with male to female ratio of 2:1. Average time of symptoms was 4.8 weeks. Majority, 77.4% was high risk and 19.4% was standard risk. There was high treatment abandonment rate (35.5%, n=11). Three patients returned and completed treatment after multiple surgeries in an average of 9 months. Three years OS and EF were 69.6% and 74.8%, respectively. Six patients aged < 3years; half had advance disease on palliative care post surgery. Other survivors had severe learning difficulty and two had second malignancy (meningioma and thyroid carcinoma) at average 15.5 years after diagnosis. CONCLUSION Strategy to reduce treatment abandonment is crucial. Moreover, multidisciplinary management and molecular stratification are important in improving the outcome.
               
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