A review of patients with midline tumors suggests shunting may be a more robust treatment for hydrocephalus in pediatric and adult patients with diffuse midline gliomas.
Charts of 43 consecutive midline tumor patients were reviewed with approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to determine the rate of hydrocephalus and the appropriate neurosurgical interventions. The study considered whether those with diffuse midline glioma and hydrocephalus were candidates for resection and what the outcomes of endoscopic third ventriculostomy versus ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement were, as compared with wild type tumors.
The study, conducted by a team of Norton Healthcare neuro-oncologists from the Brain Tumor Center and Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, found both pediatric and adult patients may present with diffuse midline glioma associated with a higher rate of unresectable tumors and hydrocephalus.
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The data suggest that neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy and septum pellucidum fenestration for the management of obstructive hydrocephalus in patients with diffuse midline glioma may be less robust than shunting, the authors wrote.
The Brain Tumor Center is a collaboration of Norton Neuroscience Institute and Norton Cancer Institute.
The study, presented at the 2020 Annual Meeting for the Society of Neuro-Onoclogy, was authored by Lennea Coombs, PA-C; Renato V. LaRocca, M.D.; Jessica L. Hata, M.D.; Hilary Nickols, M.D., Ph.D.; Aaron C. Spalding, M.D., Ph.D.; and David A. Sun, M.D., Ph.D.; all with the Brain Tumor Center; and Ian S. Mutchnick, M.D.; Thomas M. Moriarty, M.D., Ph.D.; and William C. Gump, M.D.; with Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute.
Kaylyn D. Sinicrope, M.D., of the Brain Tumor Center; and Mustafa Barbour, M.D., and Michael Huang, M.D., both of Norton Children’s Cancer Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine; joined the authors in presenting the findings as a poster to the Society for Neuro-Oncology.