Gliomas in children: a review

Abstract 

The management and prognosis of gliomas are significantly different in children and in adults. Fortunately, the proportion of gliomas that are malignant is smaller in children than in the adult population. The different types of gliomas encountered in the pediatric population are reviewed, taking account of the most recent contributions on this subject. The importance of considering both localization and histological classification for better definition of the prognostic factors of each subgroup is emphasized. A brief review of the possible causes of gliomas is presented. Unfortunately, the information obtained by molecular and genetic study of these tumors has still not resulted in anything that can help the children suffering from gliomas in a concrete way. Surgery, with all its recent refinements, remains the best treatment for the majority of benign gliomas providing they can be removed without unacceptable sequelae. The role of chemotherapy has emerged recently for the treatment of nonresectable low-grade gliomas, such as hypothalamic- chiasmatic tumors, especially for infants, in whom the adverse effects of radiotherapy can be severe and irreversible. On the eve of the new millennium, there is renewed hope that the problem of malignant gliomas will be solved in the not-too-distant future.