Childhood central nervous system tumors at MAHAK's Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center (MPCTRC), Tehran, Iran.
OBJECTIVE
As central nervous system (CNS) tumors account for second most common childhood malignancies and the first cause of mortality in children with cancer, improving treatment modalities can lead to increase the health care of patients. In this study, we examined the prevalence of childhood brain tumors in patients who referred to MAHAK's Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center (MPCTRC) for treatment.


METHODS
A retrospective review of all children less than 15 years old with a CNS histologically proven tumor, who presented to MPCTRC from April 2007 to April 2010, was performed. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 19 with Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Chi-square tests.


RESULTS
There were 198 (124 boys) children eligible for the study. The majority of the tumors were infratentorial (n = 134), and the rest were supratentorial (n = 60) and spinal (n = 4) cases. The median age was 6.11 ± 3.65 years old. Medulloblastoma (n = 66), low-grade glioma (n = 52), and high-grade glioma (n = 40) were the most common tumors. The mean duration of follow-up was 21 months. At the time of this analysis, there were 105 (53 %) children alive, 82 (41.4 %) deaths, and 11 (5.6 %) lost for follow-up. The survival rate was 51.68 ± 5.22 %.


CONCLUSIONS
In contrast of high rate of death in this study, other general characteristics can serve as benchmark for improving our care for children with brain tumors in Iran.
MAHAK's Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center, MAHAK Blv, Oshan Blv, Aghdasieh Ave, Tehran, 1956943512, Iran.
Azim
A
Mehrvar
Mohammad
M
Faranoush
Amir Abbas
AA
Hedayati Asl
Maryam
M
Tashvighi
Mohammad Ali
MA
Fazeli
Ibrahim
I
Qaddoumi
Narjes
N
Mehrvar
Behdad
B
Sobuti
Ali
A
Jafarpour
Reza
R
Ravan Parsa
Rokhsaneh
R
Zangooei
Mardawig
M
Alebouyeh
Parvaneh
P
Vossough
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D019985:Benchmarking; D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome