CLINICAL AND RADIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF CHILDREN WITH CRANIOPHARINGYOMA DIAGNOSIS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Craniopharyngiomas represent about 3% of non-glial intracranial tumors in children. The ideal treatment is still controversial, ranging from radical surgeries to the application of chemotherapy (QT) with intracystic interferon-alpha (IFN-a). OBJECTIVE: To describe a series of cases of pediatric patients diagnosed with adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma treated using three therapeutic possibilities: total resection, partial resection followed by radiotherapy (RT) or QT with IFN-a. METHODS: Description of a series of cases, between 2000 and 2017, with 17 children diagnosed with craniopharyngioma submitted to current treatments. RESULTS: Of the 17 patients, there were 52.9% girls, aged 9 months to 14 years. There were 76.5% of patients diagnosed with hydrocephalus and the main symptoms were: headache (64.7%), anopsias (41.2%), amaurosis (41.2%) and hormonal changes (94.1%). Of the sample evaluated, 17.6% underwent total resection, 52.9% partial resection with RT and 29.4% QT. In general, there was a reduction in tumor volume of 80.7% in the three treatments proposed, with reductions in QT of up to 95%. CONCLUSION: Headache was the main neurological symptom and one of the earliest intracranial hypertension in children with craniopharyngioma. Hormonal changes, anopsias and amaurosis had high prevalence. The present study demonstrated the need for a timely and individualized therapeutic choice for the treatment of children diagnosed with craniopharyngioma.