Purpose: Retrospective analysis of the results of 52 children irradiated for a medulloblastoma.
Patients and methods: Between 1974 and 2012, 52 children with an average age of 6 years and a half (11 months-17 years and a half) were treated with surgery then with radiotherapy at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Strasbourg (France). For 44 children, the treatment consisted of a chemotherapy.
Results: After a mean follow-up of 106.6 months (7-446 months), 13 relapses and 24 deaths were observed. Overall survival at 5 years and 10 years were 62% and 57%, respectively. Disease-free survival at 5 years and 10 years were 80% and 63%, respectively. Univariate analysis found the following adverse prognostic factors: the existence of a postoperative residue, the positivity of the cerebrospinal fluid, the metastatic status and medulloblastoma of high-risk. Positivity of the cerebrospinal fluid remains a negative factor in multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: These results confirm the survival rate obtained by a conventional approach (surgery then irradiation). Insufficiency of results and rarity of medulloblastoma require the establishment of international protocols.
Keywords: Children; Enfants; Medulloblastoma; Médulloblastomes; Radiothérapie.
Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier SAS.