Intracranial primitive neuroectodermal tumors: experience of 7 cases with particular reference to survival.

A group of neoplasms consisting of undifferentiated neuroepithelial cells being capable of differentiating into either neuronal or glial line or both directions has been termed "Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumors (PNETs)". They have been shown to possess several similarities in clinical, radiological, and pathological features to the cerebellar medulloblastomas. The latter are well treated by surgical removal followed by radiotherapy. Therefore, we used the same regimen in treating 7 patients with intracranial PNETs and obtained an average survival of 28.7 months which is longer than those of previous reports. The analysis of our patients disclosed an optimistic view that the ideal prognosis of PNETs should be better than this.