ABSTRACT
Over a period of 5 years, 34 pediatric patients underwent stereotactic surgery for deep-seated brain lesions: 32 patients proved to have a brain tumor, and in 2 cases the lesion was not tumoral; 15 patients with low-grade astrocytomas were treated with 125I interstitial radiotherapy. The importance of stereotactic surgery is emphasized because of its relative safeness, diagnostic reliability, and the possibility of eventual brachytherapy.
Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms/surgery , Stereotaxic Techniques , Adolescent , Brachytherapy/methods , Brain Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Brain Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Child , Child, Preschool , Combined Modality Therapy , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Infant , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Stereotaxic biopsy was performed in 10 patients with tumors of the pineal region. On the basis of intraoperative tissue diagnosis, low-energy radioactive sources (125I) were implanted in seven patients for interstitial irradiation during the same stereotaxic procedure. Results were good in five cases. This therapeutic modality appears to be indicated in cases of proven low-grade malignancy, inasmuch as the implantation of radioactive sources in a highly malignant lesion carries the risk of severe, often irreversible, damage to the surrounding brain, because of possible seed migration.
