Abstract
The majority of brain stem gliomas (60–80%) are situated in the pons, are diffusely infiltrating, and are not amenable to surgical treatment. Altogether, brain stem gliomas constitute approximately 20% of pediatric and 1% of adult brain tumors [15]. The median survival of patients with these diffuse pontine gliomas regardless of treatment is quite poor, ranging from 6 to 15 months. Surgical biopsy or resection has no proven role in the treatment of these tumors. Unfortunately, we have not changed the natural history of this ominous tumor over the past 50 years, despite significant advances in surgery and adjuvant therapy for other types of brain tumors [2, 3, 20].
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Mai, J.C., Ellenbogen, R.G. (2010). Cervicomedullary Gliomas. In: Tonn, JC., Westphal, M., Rutka, J.T. (eds) Oncology of CNS Tumors. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02874-8_31
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