Pediatric Intracranial Anaplastic Gangliogliomas: Illustrative Case and Systematic Review

We present an illustrative case of pediatric intracranial anaplastic ganglioglioma and systematically reviewed the current reported data of anaplastic ganglioglioma in the pediatric population.

A comprehensive literature search for our review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and Embase databases. The search terms included "ganglioglioma," "anaplastic," "pediatrics," "children," and "intracranial." We used no limitations for date, type, or language. Reports of pediatric patients (age <19 years) with intracranial anaplastic gangliogliomas were included. Baseline patient demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, imaging characteristics, management strategies, and outcomes data were extracted.

We included 24 studies involving 34 patients in the quantitative synthesis. The mean patient age was 9.18 ± 5.46 years (range, 0.16-18). A male predominance was observed (approximate male/female ratio, 1.61:1). Increased intracranial pressure was the most common symptom (n = 19; 55%), followed by seizures (n = 11; 32%). These tumors were most often found in the supratentorial compartment (n = 26; 76%). All 34 patients had undergone surgical removal. The mean follow-up was 22.2 months (range, 2-72). The mean overall survival duration was 43 months (95% confidence interval, 32.45%-55.31%; 1- and 3-year overall survival, 76.6% and 45.5%, respectively). The median event-free survival was 34 months (95% confidence interval, 10.6%-57.3%; 1- and 3-year event-free survival rate, 76.6% and 42.4%, respectively).

Our results contribute to our understanding of the characteristics of this rare malignant tumor and show that anaplastic ganglioglioma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intracranial tumors in pediatric patients.