title: Spectrum of pediatric brain tumors in India: a multi-institutional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Till date there is no published multi-institutional data regarding the epidemiological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present retrospective study analyses the histological spectrum of pediatric age group brain tumors in seven tertiary care hospitals in India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data regarding frequencies of various primary brain tumors (diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification), in 3936 pediatric patients (<18 yrs of age), was collected from seven tertiary care hospitals in India.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common primary pediatric brain tumors were astrocytic tumors (34.7%), followed by medulloblastoma and supratentorial primitive neuro-ectodermal tumors (22.4%), craniopharyngiomas (10.2%) and ependymal tumors (9.8%). The most common astrocytic tumor was pilocytic astrocytoma. In comparison to adults, oligodendrogliomas and lymphomas were rare in children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study is the first such report on the histological spectrum of brain tumors in children in India. Except for a slightly higher frequency of craniopharyngiomas, the histological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India is similar to that reported in the Western literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ayushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Mehar C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Vaishali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Suri
authors.forename: Shashank S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kale
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
authors.forename: Medha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatke
authors.forename: Geeta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chacko
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.forename: Vani
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Santosh
authors.forename: Preeta
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Nuzhat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sarkar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003397:Craniopharyngioma; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D014944:World Health Organization