Primary Paediatric CNS Tumours: A 25 Years Analysis at a Tertiary Referral Centre in Southern India

Introduction: Paediatric brain tumours are the most common solid tumours in developing countries, leading to cancer related mortality in children globally. Enough data are available regarding the epidemiology of paediatric brain tumours in the western population. But limited data is available in India as only a few cases were reported. Aim: To evaluate the epidemiologic, clinicopathologic and histologic spectrum of paediatric brain and spinal cord tumours in a tertiary care referral centre of Southern India. Materials and Methods: This study was a retrospective, observational study which was undertaken at the Department of Pathology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. It's a 25 years study from January 1993 to December 2017. Data were collected regarding the frequencies of primary brain and spinal cord tumours (diagnosed according to World Health Organisation (WHO) classification) in total of 151 paediatric patients (comprised of all children <18 years of age) from medical records in the tertiary centre. Results: Over a period of 25 years, a total of 151 paediatric brain tumours were identified. Among these 4 were metastatic and the remaining 147 were primary. Primary tumours of brain origin were 112 and the remaining 35 were spinal cord tumours. The mean age for primary paediatric CNS tumours was 11.06 years with a slight male preponderance i.e., male: female ratio of 1.1:1. The most common brain tumour was Astrocytoma with 42 cases (37.5%) and among spinal cord, the most common tumour was Nerve sheath tumour with 13 cases (37.1%). Conclusion: Demographics in the present study are comparable with similar studies from various medical centres on this topic. It is used as a reliable profile to set priorities for rationing the limited resources and thereby aid in developing national data. Various studies like this from different cancer centres across India will help to prepare an epidemiological profile of overall Indian as well as regional Paediatric brain tumours.