[Astrocytomas in pediatrics. The prognostic factors and survival]

Tumors of the central nervous system are the second most frequent malignancy in children under the age of 15 the majority of which are astrocytomas. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of some factors on the survival of patients with astrocytomas. We reviewed the clinical charts of patients with a diagnosis of astrocytoma from 1984 to 1995 and we analyzed the age, sex, location, malignant grade and survival according to the actuarial method and log rank tests. A total of 39 patients were detected, 43% were supratentorial, 13% cerebellar and 43% from the brain stem. There was a better prognosis for those located supratentorial or cerebellar with respect to those in the brain stem, with statistical significance. The treatment consisted in surgical resection in 26 patients, 17 of which were found to have a high grade of malignancy and 9 with low grade, with statistically better prognosis for low grade tumors. There were 17 deaths during the period, with 8 of these patients having a high grade tumor a 10, with brain stem tumors. Forty-one percent of the patients that died did so in the first year and 94% during the first two years after diagnosis. Patients with cerebellar astrocytoma and patients with low-grade astrocytomas had the best prognosis.