Clinico-morphological pattern of intracranial tumors in children

OBJECTIVE: The objective of present study was to observe the histopathological pattern of intracranial tumors in children [< 15 yrs] and to correlate the site of lesion along with the histological diagnosis. SETTING: The study included consecutive cases of intracranial tumors diagnosed in children [< 15 yrs.] in the section of histopathology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi during the period of three years. METHODS: The initial histological evaluation of these lesions was performed on H and E stained section of paraffin embedded tissue. Special stains and immunohistochemical analysis was done whenever indicated. During the study period, fifty-four cases of intracranial tumors were diagnosed in children. The age ranged from 1-1/2 years to 4 years with male to female ratio of 1.1:1. Astrocytoma comprised 39% of all intracranial tumors of childhood. Medulloblastoma [18.6%] ranked the second most prevalent brain tumor followed by empendymoma [13%], oligodendroglioma 7.5% while non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, primitive neuroblastoma 3.7% and ganglioglioma 3.7% while non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, mixed germ cell tumor, pineoblastoma, choroid plexus carcinoma and malignant meningioma constituted 1.8% each. Astrocytoma was the most common pediatric brain tumor. Medulloblastoma was more common in males while pilocytic astrocytoma was more frequent in females. Posterior cranial fossa was the most common site [43.5%] of pediatric brain tumors. Low grade astrocytoma was more prevalent in posterior cranial fossa as compared to high grade astrocytoma which was more frequent in the supratentorial region

morphological pattern of 234 cases of leukemias

Morphological pattern of 234 consecutive cases of various types of leukemias is presented. Acute leukemias [62.8%] were commoner than chronic [37.2%]. Amongst acute leukemias, myeloid leukemias [AML] were more frequent as compared to lymphoblastic [ALL]. AML:ALL ratio was 2.57:1 in adults and 1:3 in children. Amongst AML cases, M4 was the commonest, followed by M2, M1, M3 and M4 and M6 and M7 respectively. In ALL patients, L1 was the commonest, followed by L2 and L3 respectively. Amongst chronic leukemias, myelocytic leukemia [CML] was more common than lymphocytic leukemia [CLL] with a CML:CLL ratio of 3.1:1. In a total of 60 CML cases, two had junvenile CML, four were between 10 and 15 years of age and the remaining 54 were adults. Hairy cell leukemia [2 cases] and lymphoma/leukemia syndrome [5 cases] were uncommon