Medulloblastomas

81 patients with biopsy proven medulloblastoma with a mean age of 11.4 years were reviewed. Total removal of the tumour was accomplished in 18 cases (22.2%), subtotal removal in 55 cases (67.9%) and biopsy alone in 8 cases (9.9%). 34 patients (27.5%) had a recurrence of the tumour and 8 patients underwent a second posterior fossa exploration at the time of recurrence. In patients with total resection, five-year survival was 27.7%. With partial resection, five-year survival decreased to 14.5%. In patients with radiotherapy chemotherapy, 21.4% survived 5 years after treatment but this rate decreased to 18.4% in patients treated with radiotherapy only. The surgical mortality rate was 12.3%.