Patient population:
Patients from 3 to 15 years old and with the histological diagnosis of
Medulloblastoma from the National Cancer Institute in Peru (INEN,
“Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas”) were analyzed
retrospectively between 1997 to 2013, the patients were categorized into
two time periods based on timing of diagnosis, 1997-2008 and 2009-2013,
due to the different treatment approach. Histopathological diagnosis of
medulloblastoma was confirmed by pathology review by one expert
neuropathologist (S.C.). Survival status was obtained from de-identified
registry data. This study was approved by the institutional review board
at the INEN. Complete clinical records were available for 89 cases from
a total of 103 patients identified having medulloblastoma. Collected
de-identified data included patient demographic and clinical
characteristics such as: age, sex, demographical information, time
between symptom onset and initiation of treatment, pathological
diagnosis, incidence of ventriculoperitoneal drain placement,
post-operative residual as assessed by MRI, availability of
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, and outcome.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of resources and barriers at INEN,
we created a survey to be completed by treating physicians (oncologist,
pathologist, neurosurgeon and radiologist at the INEN) to evaluate the
resources available at the institution providing pediatric
neuro-oncology services between 1997-2008 and 2008-2013. This survey was
approved by the institutional review board at Nationwide Children’s
Hospital.