Histopathological spectrum of pediatric supratentorial brain tumors in a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Information on epidemiological profile of supratentorial tumors pathology is scant in developing countries like India hence; more institutional data are needed to know the tumor burden in pediatric population, to undertake necessary research and to improve the therapeutic modalities in any given locality. Aim: To study the distribution of various supratentorial tumors in pediatric age group according to age, sex, anatomical location and histological type and correlate findings from our institute with other institutional studies. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to analyze the data on archived surgical samples of 45 pediatric patients (0-18 years) with supratentorial brain tumors, operated over a period of 10 years (January 2008 to December 2017). Data regarding age, gender, site of the tumor and histopathology were considered for the analysis. The results obtained were compared with the available published literature data matching to our study on Indian population. Results: The most common pediatric primary brain tumors occupying supratentorial region were astrocytic tumors (33.3%) followed by craniopharyngiomas (20%) and meningiomas (13.4%). The most common astrocytic tumor was pilocytic astrocytoma. Pediatric brain tumors were more common in males (60%) as compared to females (40%) with male to female ratio of 1.5: 1. Conclusion: Astrocytomas and craniopharyngiomas were observed to be the common supratentorial tumors among pediatric age group at our institute consistent with other multicentric studies conducted in India.