Medulloblastoma
What is it?
This is a tumor of the posterior cranial fossa that usually occurs in the first decade of life and usually in children younger than 5 years old.
Which are the symptoms?
On neuroradiological examination, it looks like a solid mass, usually located in the cerebellar worm region with involvement of the IV ventricle.
Histologically, it is malignant and belongs to the class of neuroepithelial tumors (PNET).
It can cause metastases to other parts of the central nervous system, usually to the spinal cord (spreading along cerebrospinal fluid outflow pathways), as well as extraneural metastases (bones, lungs and liver).
How is it diagnosed?
For this reason, the staging phase after diagnosis should include cytological examination of the lumbar puncture cerebrospinal fluid and a magnetic resonance imaging of the entire spinal cord.
How is it treated?
Surgical intervention is performed. After surgery, oncological treatment with chemotherapy and radiation therapy is always indicated.
If it is possible to remove the tumor completely and the results of cerebrospinal fluid cytology and magnetic resonance imaging of the spinal cord are negative, the prognosis is quite good: the ten-year survival rate is about 75%.
Unfortunately, the ten-year survival rate is less than 50% among patients with metastases along the cerebrospinal fluid outflow pathways or in cases where surgical removal cannot be radical.
Where do we treat it?
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