Optimal therapy in medulloblastoma.

Twenty-eight children with medulloblastoma (19 boys and 9 girls) were treated at the Departments of Neurosurgery and Radiotherapy in Essen between 1969 and 1977, and were followed prospectively after surgical treatment and postoperative irradiation. Because different radiation techniques had been used, these patients were divided into two groups, one given a limited irradiation volume and the other irradiation of the entire central nervous system. The results obtained in the former group were inferior to those in the latter. All living patients in the seond group are in good condition. Special attention is paid to the technique of irradiation and the factors which may influence prognosis. Even after the relatively short follow up period of one to five years, it may be concluded that high-dose irradiation of the entire central nervous system considerably improved the prognosis of medulloblastoma.