Anticancer research
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Between the years 1960 and 1983, 26 patients with the diagnosis of ependymoma were treated at our institution. Twenty-one patients received postoperative radiotherapy, of whom six patients had supratentorial tumors and 15 had infratentorial tumors. The median dose to the brain was 53.75 Gy with a range of 30-60 Gy. ⋯ The five-year survival was 38% in patients with infratentorial tumors who received craniospinal irradiation as compared to 33% with whole brain and 0% with partial brain radiation including the spine. All five patients with high grade infratentorial tumors subsequently failed in the cerebrospinal axis despite cranio-spinal irradiation in two and partial brain plus whole spine in another two of the patients. In conclusion, the favorable prognostic factors (in order of increasing importance) for patients with intracranial ependymomas are: age greater than 15 (marginal), complete resection and low histological grade.