[Comparative epidemiology of adult and pediatric intramedullary spinal cord tumors].

Unlabelled: Intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCTs) are a rare pathology. They can be found at any age. Our experience with more than 507 surgeries for IMSCTs revealed some differences between pediatric and adult IMSCTs.
Aim: We used a large surgical series to conduct comparative analysis of the main epidemiological characteristics of intramedullary tumors in children and adults and to identify possible differences.
Material and Methods: Prospectively collected data from 224 pediatric and 242 adult patients operated by one surgeon (YK) for last 12 years were analyzed.
Results: Pediatric IMSCTs are more extensive and children undergo treatment in worse clinical condition than adults. There are age-related differences in the tumor localization. The astrocytoma/ependymoma ratio was 83/17 in children and 21/79 in adults.
Conclusion: We confirmed differences in IMSCTs in different age groups. Late diagnosis is a problem in the pediatric subgroup of IMSCT patients.