Ependymomas, pilocytic astrocytomas, medulloblastomas, and intracranial germ cell tumors are rare in adults. IKNL researcher Vincent Ho and colleagues established incidence, treatment and survival patterns for these brain tumors in adult patients over a 30-year period. The results were published in Neuro-Oncology Advances.
To obtain this basic information, the researchers analyzed data from 1,384 ependymomas, 454 pilocytic astrocytomas, 205 medulloblastomas and 112 intracranial germ cell tumors from the Dutch Cancer Registry (NKR). For each tumor type, they reported trends in incidence, major treatments, and patient survival.
Incidence and survival rates generally remained stable for pilocytic astrocytomas, medulloblastomas and germ cell tumors. An increasing incidence was observed for spinal ependymomas, most commonly for myxopapillary ependymomas. Survival improved over time for grade II ependymomas.
In most cases, the operation involved a resection for all tumor types, in which as much tumor material as possible was removed. More than 87% of all patients underwent resection, with the exception of patients with germ cell tumors, especially germinomas, for which only 28% of patients underwent resection.
Due to the rarity and complex biology of the mentioned brain tumors in adults, there is a need for standard treatment protocols. This study provides information for evaluating changes in diagnostics and for monitoring patient outcomes over time.
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