Abstract
To review the current literature on pineal region gliomas, summarizing the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes.
PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases were used to identify relevant articles. Comprehensive clinical characteristic review and survival analysis were conducted.
Twelve studies describing 81 patients were included. The median age was 39 years (male=54.3%). Fifty patients (61.7%) had obstructive hydrocephalus requiring cerebrospinal fluid diversion with either ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) (40.0%) or endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) (24.0%). Patients who underwent VPS had significant survival benefits compared to ETV (p<0.05). All patients in our review underwent surgery, and gross-total resection (≥98%) was achieved in 34.6%. The supracerebellar infratentorial approach was the most employed surgical approach (62.3%). Chemotherapy was administered in 32.1% of cases, and radiotherapy in 40.7%. The median overall survival (OS) was 12 months, and the overall one-year survival rate was 60%.
This study could not establish a correlation between the extent of tumor resection and positive treatment outcomes. However, among cases with hydrocephalus, patients who underwent VPS placement had better survival as compared to ETV.