Spectrum of pediatric brain tumors in India: a multi-institutional study.

BACKGROUND Till date there is no published multi-institutional data regarding the epidemiological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India. AIM The present retrospective study analyses the histological spectrum of pediatric age group brain tumors in seven tertiary care hospitals in India. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data regarding frequencies of various primary brain tumors (diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification), in 3936 pediatric patients (<18 yrs of age), was collected from seven tertiary care hospitals in India. RESULTS The most common primary pediatric brain tumors were astrocytic tumors (34.7%), followed by medulloblastoma and supratentorial primitive neuro-ectodermal tumors (22.4%), craniopharyngiomas (10.2%) and ependymal tumors (9.8%). The most common astrocytic tumor was pilocytic astrocytoma. In comparison to adults, oligodendrogliomas and lymphomas were rare in children. CONCLUSIONS Our study is the first such report on the histological spectrum of brain tumors in children in India. Except for a slightly higher frequency of craniopharyngiomas, the histological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India is similar to that reported in the Western literature.