Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas

Abstract

Brain stem tumors account for 10%-15% of all primary childhood CNS tumors. Most of the brain tumors arising in the brain stem are gliomas. With recent advances in neuro-imaging, particularly the advent of MRI and careful correlation of clinical presentation, location, and growth pattern it has become evident that brain stem tumors are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, divisible into distinct subgroups such as diffuse intrinsic pontine tumors, and focal, dorsal exophytic, cervicomedullary tumors. Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG) constitute 80% of the pediatric brain stem tumors. These tumors are typically high-grade gliomas and have uniformly poor prognosis. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.