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Epidemiologic profile of pediatric brain tumors in Morocco

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Abstract

Introduction

Brain tumors are the most common solid tumors diagnosed among children below 15 years worldwide. However, little is known about the profile of pediatric brain tumors in Africa. The purpose of this study was to further elaborate the epidemiological profile of pediatric brain tumors in Africa, specifically Morocco.

Methods

A retrospective review was conducted of all patients with primary brain tumors in the age group 0–19 years, from 2003 to 2007, from multiple centers in two cities of Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco. Only patients with histopathological confirmation were included (n = 542). Descriptive epidemiologic profiles were created for the patients by age, sex, and histological subtypes of brain tumors.

Results

Overall medulloblastoma was the most common brain tumor (34.5%), followed by pilocytic astrocytoma (17.3%) and diffuse astrocytoma grade 2 (12.5%). Brain tumors occurred most commonly in 5–9-year age group followed by 10–14-year age group with the former being more common among males and the latter being more common among females. We also found medulloblastoma to be the most common brain tumor in the 0–14-year-olds.

Conclusions

In this rare study focused on pediatric brain tumors in Morocco, most of the findings were consistent with past studies from other parts of the world. However, we found medulloblastoma to be the most common pediatric brain tumor followed by astrocytoma.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Drs. Leana May, Melissa Bondy, Georgios Alexiou, and Janet Bruner for their valuable contributions towards data collection and creation of an earlier version of the manuscript.

Funding

Leana May was supported by a fellowship from the Cancer Epidemiology Education in Special Populations Program of the University of Michigan (R25 CA112383) from the National Cancer Institute.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no commercial or other associations that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn Rochd, 24, rue Jalal Eddine Essayouti, MA20100, Casablanca, Morocco

    Mehdi Karkouri

  2. Department of Hematology and Pediatric Oncology, Hôpital du 20 Août 1953, Casablanca, Morocco

    Sadia Zafad

  3. Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Rabat Children’s Hospital, Rabat, Morocco

    Mohammed Khattab

  4. National Institute of Oncology, Rabat, Morocco

    Noureddine Benjaafar & Hanan El Kacemi

  5. Department of Pathology, Hôpital des Spécialités, Rabat, Morocco

    Sana Sefiani

  6. United Nations Center for Pathology, Rabat, Morocco

    Fouad Kettani

  7. Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 109 Observatory St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Subhojit Dey & Amr S. Soliman

Authors
  1. Mehdi Karkouri
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  2. Sadia Zafad
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  3. Mohammed Khattab
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  4. Noureddine Benjaafar
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  5. Hanan El Kacemi
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  6. Sana Sefiani
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  7. Fouad Kettani
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  8. Subhojit Dey
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  9. Amr S. Soliman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amr S. Soliman.

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Karkouri, M., Zafad, S., Khattab, M. et al. Epidemiologic profile of pediatric brain tumors in Morocco. Childs Nerv Syst 26, 1021–1027 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-010-1097-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-010-1097-y

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