Survival with concurrent temozolomide and radiotherapy in pediatric brainstem glioma with relation to the tumor volume.

Background: Brainstem gliomas account for approximately 25% of all posterior fossa tumors. In pediatric age group, it constitutes about 10% of all brain tumors. Brainstem glioma is an aggressive and lethal type of malignancy with poor outcome despite all treatments. Aim: We studied the incidence and treatment outcome in pediatric patients with brainstem glioma depending on their tumor volume presenting in our institution in last 5 years. Brain tumors comprised 2.95% of all cancers and brainstem gliomas were 8% of all brain tumors. Materials and Methods: Nine pediatric patients were included in this analysis, who were treated with localized external radiotherapy 54–59.4 Gy along with temozolomide 75 mg/m 2 during the whole course of radiotherapy. Results: The median survival in all these patients was 20 months and the overall 2 years survival is 44.4% (4/9). The median survival of patients with primary disease volume Conclusion: As this study includes a small number of patients with unknown histology and treated on the basis of magnetic resonance imaging findings, no definite opinion can be given as some patients may have a low-grade tumor. More studies are required to establish the relation of size of the tumor with survival.