Pediatric brain tumors in Nigeria: clinical profile, management strategies, and outcome

Introduction Although modern neuroimaging has facilitated early care of brain tumors in children worldwide, there are, however, few published reports on clinical profile, treatment, and outcome of brain tumors in children from our subregion. Purpose We aimed to retrospectively study the clinical profile and outcome of pediatric brain tumors in a tertiary referral center from a developing country. Methods Forty pediatric patients with histologically verified brain tumors managed by the authors over a 13-year period (May1994–April 2006) were studied. Patients' data from clinical, radiological, and pathology records were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 16. Results The mean age was 9.75 years (range 1–15 years). Twenty-two males, 18 females. Common presenting symptoms were headaches (23 patients, 57.5 %) and seizures (15 patients, 37.5 %). Hyperreflexia (72.5 %) and focal motor deficits (62.5 %) were the most common neurologic signs. The mean interval from onset of symptoms to neurosurgical diagnosis was 13.4 months (95 % CI). All patients had tumor resection, while 11 (27.5 %) patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. Hydrocephalus occurred in 19 (47.5 %) patients and was associated with early presentation (X 2 = 10.65, p