Gliomas of the brain among Nigerians

At the UCH in Ibadan, Nigeria, we have seen forty-three patients with verified neoplasms of the brain comprising most histologic types of the glioma/paraglioma series. The astrogliomas formed the largest group, followed by the pinealomas in 16.27% and the medulloblastomas and ependymomas, each occurring in 13.95% of the patients. By the end of the third decade of life 83.7% of these neoplasms have become clinically manifest; the largest number being found in the first decade. Just over half (51.16%) of all the neoplasms and also two-thirds of the patients in whom the masses were found in the posterior fossa were children under 15 years. In nearly all cases the duration of symptomatology on admission to hospital was under 6 months. Headaches, papilloedema and altered states of consciousness were frequent; and the prognosis in general has been poor. The classical glioblastoma multiforme and the acoustic neurinoma are quite uncommon in the Nigerian African; but a fairly full spectrum of the 'gliomas' has been clearly identified in the group of primary brain tumours at Ibadan.