Pediatric brain tumor care in a Sub-Saharan setting: current poise of a precariously loaded dice.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current status of pediatric brain tumor (PBT) care and identify determinants and profiles of survival and school attendance. METHODS: An 8-year institution-based prospective longitudinal study. All cases investigated with neuroimaging and treated were enrolled. Data was analyzed with SPSS (Inc) Chicago IL, USA version 23. Chi Square test, One-way ANOVA and confidence limits were used to evaluate associations at the 95% level of significance. Ethical approval for our study was obtained Health Research Ethics Committee of our hospital. RESULTS: Among 103 patients enrolled, 92 satisfied our study criteria. There were 45 males and 39 females, M: F = 0.8. The mean age was 9.5 ± 2.1 years 95%CI with a range of 7 months to 16 years. The most common symptom was headache for supratentorial lesions (73%) and gait disturbance (80.2%) for infratentorial lesions. More tumors were supratentorial in location 51 (55.4%), 35 (38.1%) were infratentorial and 6 (6.5%) were transtentorial. Craniopharyngiomas (n = 23), medulloblastomas (n = 22) and astrocytomas (n = 15) were the most common tumors. Hemoglobin genotype (AA and AS) had some influence on tumor phenotype FT, P = 0.033. 76 cases were microsurgically resected while 16 patients were treated with radiotherapy alone. The 30-day mortality for operated cases is 7.2 ± 0.7%. Overall 1-year and 5-year survival was 66.7 and 52.3%, respectively. School attendance, performance and outcome varied among treatment subgroups. CONCLUSION: Survival profile in this series suggests some improvement in comparison to previous studies from our region, Hemoglobin genotype profiles may signature paediatric brain tumor phenotypes in our setting.

Outcomes of Primary Combined Trabeculotomy and Trabeculectomy in Early-Onset Glaucoma in Children with Congenital Aniridia.

PURPOSE: To report clinical features and treatment outcomes of primary combined trabeculotomy with trabeculectomy (CTT) in congenital aniridia with glaucoma in children 3 years of age or younger. DESIGN: Retrospective study. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-six eyes of 35 children with congenital aniridia and early-onset glaucoma who underwent CTT between May 1997 and June 2015 were included. METHODS: Success was defined as complete when intraocular pressure (IOP) was more than 5 mmHg and less than or equal to 21 or 16 mmHg without antiglaucoma medications (AGMs), and qualified when AGMs were required. Eyes needing repeat surgery for IOP control were considered as failures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: IOP control and number of AGMs. RESULTS: The median age at presentation of 35 children was 26 days (interquartile range [IQR], 7-106 days). There were 22 males (62.9%) and 13 females (37.1%). Parental consanguinity was noted in 11 children (31.4%). Aniridia was total in 52 eyes and partial in 14 eyes. At presentation, there was corneal edema in 30 eyes (45.4%), enlarged corneal diameter in 32 eyes (48.5%), nystagmus in 15 children (23%), limbal stem cell deficiency in 1 eye, cataract in 9 eyes (13.6%), and foveal hypoplasia in 4 eyes. After CTT, median IOP was reduced significantly (P < 0.0001). Corneal edema cleared in 12/30 eyes and cleared with scar in 18/30 eyes. Median follow-up was 5.33 (IQR, 3.05-7.59) years. At latest follow-up, median number of AGMs was 1 (IQR, 0-2) and median visual acuity in logarithm of minimum angle of resolutions (n = 34 eyes) was 1.35 (IQR, 0.80-2.78). The probability of complete success for IOP ≤ 21 mmHg was 79.9% at 1 year and 62.3% between 2 and 10 years; for IOP ≤ 16 mmHg, it was 78.6% at 1 year and decreased to 51.9% at 10 years. Qualified success for IOP ≤ 21 mmHg at 1 year was 82.6% and 81% over 10 years; for IOP ≤ 16 mmHg, it was 81.4% at 1 year and decreased to 63.1% at 10 years. Seven eyes (10.6%) required repeat intervention for IOP control with median time of 3.17 years (IQR, 0.92-6.56) from first surgery. CONCLUSIONS: CTT showed good success in children with congenital aniridia with early-onset glaucoma.