LINC-19. Epidemiological Profile And Management Trends in Pediatric Brain Tumour Patients – 15 Year Experience From a Tertiary Neuro-Oncology Centre In South Asia

INTRODUCTION: Brain tumour in pediatric age group are the most common solid tumour. Commonly occurring tumours include astrocytomas, medulloblastoma and ependymoma. Astrocytoma and medulloblastoma are common in Europe as compared to the Asian countries. AIM: To study the epidemiological profile and trends in management of pediatric brain tumor patients treated at a tertiary Neuro-oncology center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This a retrospective audit of a prospectively maintained neurosurgical database from January 2007 to December 2021. All pediatric cases (< 18 years) operated by the neurosurgical oncology unit during the study period were included for analysis. CSF diversions and non oncologic surgical procedures were excluded. Demography, referral pattern, surgical and pathological variables of these patients was analyzed from the database and electronic medical records. Patients with missing data were excluded from analysis. RESULTS: 668 patients underwent oncologic surgical procedures. There was a male preponderance (60%) and 35% of children were in the age group of 5-11 years. Hospital received maximum referral from the parent city and state (46%) followed by north india (21%). Supratentorial tumours (52 %) were seen more commonly as compared to infratentorial tumours (39 %). Astrocytoma (31 %) and embryonal tumours( 25 %) were the common histological types. On subset analysis, both astrocytic (70%) and embryonal tumours (57%) were more common in children more than five years. Intraoperative neuromonitoring, intraoperative ultrasound and navigation were used during the surgical procedures as necessary. CONCLUSION: This study is one of the largest single institution analysis of pediatric brain tumours demonstrating trends in the demographic, surgical and pathological variables over 15 years and the observed pattern is similar to published literature from Indian subcontinent.