gms | German Medical Science

56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V. (DGNC)
3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V.
Société Française de Neurochirurgie

07. bis 11.05.2005, Strasbourg

Lateral supracerebellar infratentorial approach for the treatment of intrinsic mesencephalic tumors: clinical experience with pediatric patients

Der lateraler suprazerebellärer infratentorieller Zugang zur Behandlung intrinsischer Hirnstammtumore im Kindesalter

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author V. Van Velthoven - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg
  • V. I. Vougioukas - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Société Française de Neurochirurgie. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), 3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC). Strasbourg, 07.-11.05.2005. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. Doc09.05.-15.07

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2005/05dgnc0075.shtml

Published: May 4, 2005

© 2005 Van Velthoven et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

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Objective

Surgical treatment of intrinsic brainstem lesions located still represents a challenging task. Aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the lateral supracerebellar infratentorial (LSI) approach for the treatment of gliomas located in the upper brainstem in the pediatric population.

Methods

Between 1992 and 2002, 11 patients (mean age 8.7y) with benign tumors of glial origin located mainly in the mesencephon and partially extended to the pons and/or thalamus were operated with the LSI approach in a sitting position. In 10 cases a stereotactic biopsy had verified the benign nature of the lesions prior to the LSI procedure.

Results

Satisfactory extent of resection was achieved. Additional morbidity was encountered only temporary in 3 patients. Follow-up ranged from 12 to 60 months. In 2 cases the sterotactic biopsy was misleading and the tumors proved to be WHO IV necessitating postoperative radiotherapy.

Conclusions

In a carefully selected pediatric patient population the LSI approach proved to be a feasible and effective surgical route for the treatment of upper brainstem gliomas.