Cerebellar gliomas in children.

We studied the relationship of histologic features to survival in a population of 132 children with cerebellar gliomas (excluding medulloblastomas). These children had their initial tumor operation at The Children's Hospital Medical Center of Boston between 1l927 and 1968. A classification system that accentuates differences in survival was derived on the basis of clustering of histologic features and survival. This division was supported by the existence of differentially distributed symptoms and signs and by differences in resectability. The two major subgroups of cerebellar gliomas had different patterns of clinical characteristics. Cerebellar glioma A had any of the four histologic features of microcyst, leptomeningeal deposit, Rosenthal fiber, or focus of oligodendroglia; children with glioma A had a 10-year survival rate of 94%. Glioma B, encompassing the histologic features of perivascular pseudorosette, high cell density, necrosis, mitosis, and calcification, was clearly defined but histologically less uniform; children with glioma B had a 10-year survival rate of 29%. These two groups accounted for 90% of the cerebellar gliomas in childhood.