Surgical treatment of brain stem gliomas

Abstract

✓ A long-term study has been made of a consecutive series of 37 patients with brain stem gliomas, 22 of whom were children and 15 adults. Surgical exploration was carried out in 34 of the 37 cases and only very rarely was a diagnosis made on clinical grounds or air study alone. In 10 cases a histological diagnosis was made at operation. In five patients a significantly large neoplastic cyst was found and evacuated, and four of these have had long-term useful survivals. There were nine postoperative deaths, most of them in the pre-Decadron era; 17 cases died during follow-up, with a mean survival of 33 months; and eight patients are living, with a mean survival of 3 months to 9 years. A plea is made for surgical exploration of these lesions in the hope of finding a surgically approachable cyst, and for the use of radiation therapy at a later time.