title: Brain stem gliomas: patterns of care in Victoria from 1998-2000.
abstract: This study describes the management of and outcomes for adult and paediatric patients with newly diagnosed brain stem gliomas during 1998-2000 in Victoria. Adult patients were identified in a retrospective cohort study conducted by surveying doctors involved in managing incident brainstem glioma cases identified from the population-based Victorian Cancer Registry. Paediatric cases were identified from a retrospective analysis of the Victorian Paediatric Brain tumour database for the same period. Ten adult and 14 paediatric patients were considered eligible for this study. Nine (38%) did not have a histologic diagnosis but were diagnosed on the basis of radiological appearance. Complete macroscopic resection was performed in two patients (8%). A variety of tumour types and grades were observed with surgery and radiotherapy the mainstays of therapy. No adult patients and only eight (57%) paediatric patients received chemotherapy. The median survivals for adult patients, paediatric patients with pontine lesions and paediatric patients with non-pontine lesions were: 57, 10 and 60+ months respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Haematology and Medical Oncology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia. mark.rosenthal@mh.org.au
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: Katharine J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Drummond
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dally
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cher
authors.forename: Vicky
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thursfield
authors.forename: Graham G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Giles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020295:Brain Stem Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000379:methods*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D014056:Tomography, X-Ray; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology