MEDULLOBLASTOMAS

81 patients with biopsiy proven medulloblastoma with a mean age of 11. 4 years were reviewed. Total removal of the tumour was accomplished in 18 cases (22.2 %), subtotal removal in 55 cases (67.9 %) and biopsy a lone in 8 cases (9.9 %). 34 patients (27.5 %) had a recurrence of the tumour and 8 patients underwent a second posterior fossa exploration a t the time of recurrence. In patients with total resection, five-year survival was 27.7 %. With partial resection, five-year survival decrea sed to 14.5 %. In patients with radiotherapy chemotherapy, 21.4 % surv ived 5 years after treatment but this rate decreased to 18.4 % in pati ents treated with radiotherapy only. The surgical mortality rate was 1 2.3 %.