Aim of study: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the association of thyroid dysfunction occurring in pediatric patients treated for brain tumors.
Patients and methods: A total of 255 patients with brain tumors were treated between 2001 and 2018 at the "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuță" Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca. Due to a minimum follow-up of 4 years, we studied 184 out of the 255 patients. The cohort included 69 girls (37.5%) and 109 boys (62.5%), with a median age of 8.4 years. The evaluated tumors included medulloblastomas (47 patients), astrocytomas (44 patients), ependymomas (22 patients), gliomas (20 patients), germ cell tumors (12 patients), primitive neuroectodermal tumors (4 patients), as well as other types of tumors (15 patients); in 20 of the cases, biopsy could not be performed.
Results: There was a 60% overall survival rate; among the 120 surviving patients, 11 (9.1%) were diagnosed with iatrogenic thyroid disease. We observed an important number of iatrogenic thyroid disease cases in this group of patients, thus revealing the importance of long-term thyroid function evaluation in all children who finalized their treatment for brain tumors. Through this study, we aimed to provide an accurate image of the methodology of monitoring for thyroid dysfunction in childhood brain tumor survivors.
Conclusion: Given the fact that the probability of developing thyroid dysfunction in the pediatric population treated for brain tumors is not rare, we recommend that childhood brain tumor survivors be monitored for iatrogenic thyroid disease, in order to provide early diagnosis and treatment.
Keywords: brain tumors; children; follow-up; thyroid dysfunction.