Faculty Bibliography

Sixty-six children with intrinsic brainstem gliomas diagnosed between 1980 and 1986 underwent radical surgical resection. Retrospective analysis permitted classification of tumors into four categories: diffuse, focal, cystic and cervicomedullary. All 27 patients with diffuse tumors had malignant neoplasms, were not benefitted by surgery and died within 12-18 months. Five of nine cystic tumors, three of five focal tumors and twenty of twenty-four cervicomedullary tumors had low grade histopathology and are alive one to six years postoperatively. The authors propose a clinical-neuroradiological criteria that accurately predict which patients with brainstem tumors are likely to benefit from radical surgical intervention

The author reviews current concepts involving the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of hydromyelia. A critical evaluation of current surgical approaches in relation to the type of hydromyelia present is discussed