Zeitschrift für Onkologie, Medizin und Praxis

Pediatric Medulloblastoma: A Study from Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abrar A, Algiraigri A, Al-Tarabolsi H, Mohammed B, Ahmed Ahmed and Ibraheem A

Objective: Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumors in children worldwide. It is little known about the characteristics associated with medulloblastoma and the outcome in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the study was conducted to understand the current status and what should be done for future.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of all children (<14 years) who have been diagnosed and managed with medulloblastoma at King Faisal specialist hospital and research center (KFSHRC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2011 to 2017. Important epidemiological and clinical Data have been collected and analyzed through descriptive statistics to understand the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes. In addition, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was conducted to generate EFS and OS.

Results: The obtained results of OS of 73.7% with suggested that lower age (Age ≤ 3), high risk, positive metastasis at presentation, partial resection remained vital and contributed to lower overall survival rate among the patients with P value as follow: (P:<0.001, P:0.041, P:0.020, P:0.006). Moreover, event free survival rate was 54.8% and analysis of it suggested that the extent of complete surgical resection (P<0.018) and age >3 years (P<0.001) was the major factor for better survival.

Conclusion: As per the observation, the estimated outcome of total cohort was OS 73.7% and EFS 54.8% which are comparable to the developed countries. The age of > 3 years and the complete surgical excision are emerging as the most significant factors affecting OS (80.5%, 88.7%) and EFS (61.2%, 70%). Average risk and negative metastasis had significant OS with p value of 0.04, 0.02 respectively. This study provides an important clue in understanding the importance of the demographic, clinical, and treatment modalities in understanding the prognosis of medulloblastoma. This report will serve as an important resource from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding medulloblastoma survival.