BACKGROUND : Till date there is no published multi-institutional data regarding the epidemiological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India. AIM : The present retrospective study analyses the histological spectrum of pediatric age group brain tumors in seven tertiary care hospitals in India. MATERIAL AND METHODS : Data regarding frequencies of various primary brain tumors (diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification), in 3936 pediatric patients (<18 yrs of age), was collected from seven tertiary care hospitals in India. RESULTS : The most common primary pediatric brain tumors were astrocytic tumors (34.7%), followed by medulloblastoma and supratentorial primitive neuro-ectodermal tumors (22.4%), craniopharyngiomas (10.2%) and ependymal tumors (9.8%). The most common astrocytic tumor was pilocytic astrocytoma. In comparison to adults, oligodendrogliomas and lymphomas were rare in children. CONCLUSIONS : Our study is the first such report on the histological spectrum of brain tumors in children in India. Except for a slightly higher frequency of craniopharyngiomas, the histological profile of pediatric brain tumors in India is similar to that reported in the Western literature.
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