Remarks on the follow-up of cerebellar astrocytomas.
A retrograde study was performed in 105 patients operated upon between 1950 and 1972 for a cerebellar astrocytoma. Complete histories were available for 89 patients. Forty-five patients died within the first 3 months after operation. Of the 32 patients who were still alive, 14 patients had been operated upon 20-30 years previously and 18 patients 10-19 years previously. Twelve patients died over 3 months after the operation; in 6 cases, recurrence of tumour was the cause of death. Of the 7 patients who were irradiated post-operatively, 5 died. In 26 patients the tumor had infiltrated the brain-stem and only 7 patients survived the operation. However, 2 patients are still alive after 25 and 10 years, respectively. The findings indicate that patients operated upon for a localized cerebellar astrocytoms can be considered cured and irradiation and chemotherapy are not warranted. When the tumour has infiltrated the brain-stem, a survival period of more than 20 years is possible after partial resection.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000601:surgery*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000601:surgery; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality