Clinical profile, treatment and outcome of pediatric brain tumors in Serbia in a 10-year period: A national referral institution experience

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of children with primary brain tumors, the effectiveness of treatment modalities, and to detect factors related to the outcome. Methods A detailed analysis was performed on a series of 173 pediatric patients treated in a Serbian referral oncology institution between 2007 and 2016, based on their clinical, histological, treatment, and follow-up data. Results Mean survival time of all children was 94.5months. 2-, 5- and 10-year overall survival probabilities were 68.8%, 59.4%, and 52.8%, respectively. Patients with supratentorial tumors had longer survival than patients with infratentorial tumors and patients with tumors in both compartments (p = 0.011). Children with the unknown histopathology (brainstem glioma) and high-grade glioma had a shorter life than embryonal tumors, ependymoma, and low-grade glioma (p<0.001). Survival of the children who underwent gross total resection was longer than the children in whom lesser degrees of resection were achieved (p = 0.015). The extent of the disease is a very important parameter found to be associated with survival. Patients with no evidence of disease after surgery had a mean survival of 123 months, compared with 82 months in patients with local residual disease and 55 months in patients with disseminated disease (p<0.001). By the univariate analysis, factors predicting poor outcome in our series were the presentation of disease with hormonal abnormalities, tumor location, and the extent of the disease, while the factors predicting a better outcome were age at the time of diagnosis, presentation of the disease with neurological deficit, and type of resection. By the multivariate analysis, the extent of the disease remained as the only strong adverse risk factor for survival (HR 2.06; 95% CI = 1.38–3.07; p<0.001). Conclusions With an organized and dedicated multidisciplinary team, the adequate outcomes can be achieved in a middle-income country setting. The presence of local residual disease after surgery and disseminated disease has a strong negative effect on survival.

Clinical Profile and Outcome of 806 Pediatric Oncology Patients Treated With Radiotherapy at the Serbian National Cancer Center

“…In our Institute, there is a multidisciplinary dedicated team for pediatric radiotherapy consisting of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiotherapy technicians, anesthesiologists, dedicated nurses and psychologists. We have published data on several series of our patients with various cancers so far 7–11…”

“…We have published data on several series of our patients with various cancers so far. [7][8][9][10][11] From 2006, 3D-CRT technique was introduced in our Institute. In the analyzed period, patients received 2D-RT and mostly 3D-CRT.…”

Recapitulating the Key Advances in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of High-Grade Gliomas: Second Half of 2021 Update

“…The characteristics of children with primary brain tumors, the effectiveness of treatment modalities, and the factors related to their outcome have been reported by Stanic and co-workers [ 62 ]. The mean survival time of all the children was 94.5 months.…”

“…Cumulative survival of children with brain tumors according to tumor histopathological type. ET—embryonal tumors; HGG—high-grade glioma; LGG—low-grade glioma; EP—ependymoma; UH—unknown histopathological type (reproduced from [ 62 ] with permission).…”

Total diagnostic interval in children with brain tumours in a middle-income country: national experience from Serbia

“…So far, it has never been thoroughly explored in any of the Balkan countries which share a similar socio-economic milieu [19]. Children with brain tumours in Serbia treated at National Cancer Research Centre were studied predominantly regarding management and its outcome so far, never to describe the diagnostic path of these patients [20][21][22].…”