Results of surgical treatment of cerebellar astrocytomas in young children

Abstract

Objective ‒ to analyze the results of surgical treatment of cerebellar astrocytomas in young children, to establish the factors that determine the prognosis of the course of the disease.
Materials and methods. The results of surgical treatment of 112 children with cerebellar astrocytoma, who were operated in Romodanov Neurosurgery Institute of NAMS of Ukraine in 1980‒2019; 59.8 % were boys, 40.2 % were girls. The age of children ‒ from 3 months to 3 years. Removal of the tumor was performed in 106 patients: in 58 ‒ totally, in 31 ‒ subtotally, in 16 ‒ partially, in 1 ‒ biopsy. Diffuse differentiated astrocytoma (low-grade (II)) was detected in 94 (83.9 %) patients, poorly differentiated diffuse astrocytoma (high-grade (III)) ‒ in 18 (16.1 %). In the cerebellum astrocytomas in 77 (68.7 %) cases were located in the midline. In 59 (52.7 %) cases astrocytomas had a cystic component, in 53 (47.3 %) cases were solid ones. Postoperative mortality over 30 years of observations was 15.2 %.
Results. It was found that survival rates in the early postoperative period were statistically (p = 0.03) better in cases of total tumor resection compared with patients after with subtotal resection. In patients with diffuse differentiated astrocytoma of the cerebellum, the average duration of follow-up was 6.7 years, a good quality of life was noted in 39.4 % of patients. In the long-term follow-up period, 7.3 % of children died. In patients with poorly differentiated diffuse astrocytoma of the cerebellum, the average duration of follow-up was 4.3 years, while a satisfactory quality of life was observed in 68.0 % of patients, a poor quality in 22.0 %, and a vegetative state in 10.0 % of children. In the long-term period, 20.0 % of children died. Microscopic features of cerebellar astrocytomas are their expansive-infiltrative nature of distribution and the presence of zones of neoangiomatosis.
Conclusions. It was revealed that the degree of differentiation of diffuse cerebellar astrocytomas and the radicality of their removal correlates with the quality and life expectancy of patients. The tendency of the influence of the degree of malignancy of astrocytomas on the indicators of general and reccurence-free survival of children of the younger age group was noted.