1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-8-31 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-8-4-11 Brain Neoplasms Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Surveillance Scanning for Medulloblastoma http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 04 1994 01 06 2016 8 4 31 31 Copyright: © 1994 The Author(s) 1994 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Surveillance scanning of children with medulloblastoma

The value of surveillance scanning, compared to periodic history taking and physical examination, in detection of asymptomatic recurrent tumors was examined in 86 children with posterior fossa medulloblastoma followed regularly between 1980 and 1991 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

 Surveillance Scanning Medulloblastoma Anesthesia

The value of surveillance scanning, compared to periodic history taking and physical examination, in detection of asymptomatic recurrent tumors was examined in 86 children with posterior fossa medulloblastoma followed regularly between 1980 and 1991 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Recurrences were diagnosed in 23 (27%); 4 were detected by scanning only and 19 were associated with symptoms that developed at a median of 4 months after the last scan. No patient survived after a recurrence. [1]

COMMENT. The authors conclude that surveillance scanning in children with medulloblastoma has limited clinical value. General anesthesia was required for MRI in 10% of children under 4 years of age, and sedation was requested or required by most children under the age of 7 years. More frequent scanning has the disadvantages of morbidity from sedation or anesthesia and increased cost, and earlier detection of recurrence is unlikely to change the outcome. Regular clinical evaluation and scanning are recommended to determine response and change in status after therapy. After a maximal response is achieved, scanning should be based on clinical symptoms and signs. These investigators had reached these conclusions more than 18 months ago and had presented their findings in Oct 1992: (see Ped Neur Briefs Dec 1992;6:94). [2]

 Torres CF Rebsamen S Silber JH Sutton LN Bilaniuk LT Zimmerman RA Surveillance scanning of children with medulloblastoma N Engl J Med 1994 Mar 31 330 13 892 895 10.1056/NEJM199403313301303 8114859 Torres C Ann Neurol 1992 Sept 32 458 (abstract)