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.