Is gross total removal necessary for paediatric posterior fossa tumour?

This prospective study was done in Neurosurgery department, Dhaka Medical College Hospital. It was conducted from December 2002 to October 2005. During this period 40 paediatric posterior fossa tumour patients was admitted. The mean age of the patients were 8.31+/-3.1 years ranging from 3.5 to 15 years. The main complaints were headache with vomiting (100%), dimming of vision (70%), Ataxia (52.5%), Blindness (25%). All cases had a definite diagnostic investigation at the time of admission. Plain x-ray skull was done in all patients followed by MRI scan (42.5%), CT scan (37.5) and both CT and MRI scan (20%). In all cases CSF diversion (VP shunt) were instituted. All patients were operated by suboccipital craniectomy followed by gross total removal of tumour in (62.5%) and subtotal removal in (37.5%). In all cases diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological examination. In cases of subtotal resection, symptoms (headache, vomiting) appeared during 7-9 months follow up period in (7.5%) and subsequent follow up in (12.5%). But in gross total removal symptoms appeared in one case (2.5%) in 13-15 months follow up period.