Pediatric low grade focal brainstem glioma: outcomes of different treatment strategies and prognostic factors

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Background: This study explores the prognostic factors and outcomes of different treatment modalities in focal brain stem glioma (FBSG). Materials & methods: Pediatric FBSG patients diagnosed during 2010–2017 were retrospectively reviewed for clinical and therapeutic data. Results: A total of 71 cases were identified and the median age was 6.4 years. The 5-year overall- and progression-free survival were 74.5 and 70.6%, respectively. Radiotherapy was the main line of treatment (66.2%) and there were no survival differences between radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surveillance groups. Two independent poor prognostic factors were identified on multivariate analysis: age <8 years and cervicomedullary tumor site (p = 0.02 for both). Conclusion: Surveillance, radiotherapy and chemotherapy have comparable clinical outcomes in pediatric FBSG.