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Surgical management of supratentorial ependymomas
Aabir Chakraborty1, William Harkness, Kim Phipps
1Department of Neurosurgery, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, WC1N, 3JH, UK. aabirc@yahoo.com
Introduction:
Supratentorial ependymomas are rare neoplasms accounting for just ten to 15 new cases in the UK per year. This article discusses the surgical management of these tumours.
Materials And Methods:
We present our experience over the past 12 years looking, in particular, at the location, histological grading, postoperative complications, survival and progression-free survival. A literature review of publications discussing the surgical management of ependymoma over the past 10 years is then presented.
Results:
The data shows that complete surgical resection confers a significant survival advantage. There appears to be conflicting data with respect to prognosis when comparing supratentorial to infratentorial ependymoma.
Conclusion:
The authors suggest complete excision and advocate, where appropriate, the use of pre and intra-operative functional mapping and second-look surgery. The trade off neurological deficit in the pursuit of complete surgical excision in some instances should be considered.
