Clinical Factors, Management, and Outcomes of Patients Under 18 Years Old With Central Nervous System Tumors: Single-center Experience in Peru.

Few reports on clinical factors, treatment, and survival in children and adolescents with Central nervous system tumors in low-income and middle-income countries in Latin America exist. We retrospectively reviewed such data in all cases of patients younger than 18 years with brain tumors diagnosed in a single tertiary care center in Peru from 2007 through 2017. Variables were analyzed for association with overall survival and event-free survival by using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox hazards ratio regression. Seventy-five patients' data were analyzed (40 boys, 35 girls; mean age=7.7 y). The main clinical symptoms were headache, vomiting, difficulty walking, and visual disturbances. The most frequent clinical signs were hydrocephalus, cerebellar signs, visual abnormalities, and focal motor signs. The median time to diagnosis was 12 weeks. Tumor resection was performed in 68 patients, and 37 patients received postoperative radiotherapy. The most frequent histologic subtypes were low-grade gliomas and medulloblastomas. Overall survival rates at 1 and 5 years of disease were 78% (CI 95%, 0.67 to 0.86) and 74% (CI 95%, 0.62 to 0.82), respectively, and the 5-year event-free survival rate was 62% (CI 95%, 0.47 to 0.73). Although diagnosis occurred late in our cohort, the survival rate was higher than that in other Latin American countries.

Neuralgia del glosofaríngeo izquierdo: una patología poco frecuente. Un reporte de caso

La neuralgia del glosofaríngeo es una patología rara donde hay dolor agudo y punzante en la fosa amigdalina, ángulo de la mandíbula y base de la lengua. Su principal causa es la compresión neurovascular la cual se puede diagnosticar con una resonancia cerebral. Su manejo es médico, principalmente; con fármacos, especialmente, carbamazepina y oxcarbazepina; y si no hay respuesta, va a cirugía mediante descompresión microvascular e interposición de material blando (politetrafluoroetileno), con o sin transección del IX par craneal. Se presenta el caso de una mujer de 64 años, hipertensa controlada, con dolor característico, que con 5 fármacos antineuropáticos y 1 derivado de opioides no cedía el dolor. La resonancia cerebral con secuencia FIESTA muestra una compresión neurovascular del IX PC con la PICA izquierda. Se le realiza descompresión microvascular del IX PC, con resolución de la sintomatología y sin recurrencia, saliendo de alta pronto. Se concluye que el manejo quirúrgico de esta patología en casos refractarios al tratamiento médico es una opción con buenas tasas de éxito y baja morbilidad.

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare pathology, with a sharp and stabbing pain in the tonsillar fossa, angle of the jaw and base of the tongue. Its main etiology is neurovascular compression, which can be diagnosed with a brain MRI. Its management is mainly medical with drug, especially carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, and if there is no response, surgery is performed through microvascular decompression and interposition of soft material (polytetrafluoroethylene) with or without transection of IX cranial nerve. We present the case of a 64-year-old woman, with controlled hypertension, with classic pain, who did not relieve pain with 5 antineuropathic drugs and 1 opioid derivative. Brain MRI with FIESTA sequence shows a neurovascular compression of the glossopharyngeal nerve with the left PICA. Microvascular decompression of the glossopharyngeal nerve was performed, with resolution of the symptoms and without recurrence, and she was discharged soon. We concluded that the surgical management of this pathology in refractory cases to medical treatment is an option with good success rates and low morbidity.