Diagnostic Accuracy of CT in Paediatric Intracranial Neoplastic Lesions – Radiologic and Pathologic Correlation

Abstract

Background:  The frequency of paediatric tumours in developing countries could be attributed to the incre-ased percentage (39% of total population of children) in the overall population. Therefore, extensive resear-ches should be under taken in the field of Paediatric Oncology in the third world.

Objective:  This study was conducted to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CT by comparing the pre-ope-rative radiological findings of paediatric brain tumours with post-operative histopathological findings on the basis of characteristic radiological features of various tumours.

Materials and Methods:  This was a hospital based prospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study car-ried out in Radiology Dept, KEMU / Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Study was conducted over a period of 3 years from June 2005 till June 2008 and comprised of 100 cases of paediatric brain tumours up to 12 years of age. Cases were also collected from Mayo and Children Hospital, Lahore.

Results:  Topographically, supratentorial tumours were found more than infratentorial 55 : 45. Low grade were more common than high grade 73 : 27. The most common tumour was astrocytoma with 52 cases. Medulloblastoma ranked the second with 16 cases fol-lowed by craniopharyngioma with 12 cases.

Conclusion:  The diagnostic accuracy of CT scan was found to be 83% when correlated with histopathology. CT proved fairly accurate in detection of paediatric intracranial neoplastic lesions. As CT is relatively commonly available inexpensive modality than MRI so it can be used as non invasive imaging modality.

Key words:  Paediatric brain tumour, Characteristic CT features, Diagnostic accuracy.