Treatment of spinal cord tumors in children

✍ Scribed by Mottl, Hubert; Koutecky, J.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 20 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0098-1532
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-911x(199710)29:4<293::aid-mpo10>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

Background.

A retrospective review was carried out of nine children under 17 years of age with a diagnosis of intramedullary tumor seen during the period 1989-1995. Six had astrocytomas; one each had an ependymoma, a PNET, and a choroid plexus papilloma. Five patients had back pain, 3 others had mild pareses and the ninth had incapacitating defects. Seven of the 9 were treated by subtotal extirpation of the lesion, and biopsy alone was performed in the other two. All tumors were low grade (grade I or II) and therefore radiation therapy (RT) was performed as the only postoperative treatment in 8 of the 9 children.

Results. In February 1996, seven (77.8%) children were alive and two (22.2%) died of recurrent tumor (7 months and 5 years after diagnosis, respectively). Median follow-up was 3 years 4 months (range: 1 year 6 months to 7 years 3 months).

Conclusion.

Surgical removal of intraspinal tumors provides the best hope of control, but spinal column deformity after laminectomy and irradiation is a serious long-term problem in children. Orthopedic supervision for the prevention of these deformities; e.g.