Exophytic juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas of the posterior fossa

Special indications in gamma knife surgery

Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) represent a rare indication for Gamma Knife Surgery. Mostly small remnants after surgical debulking are treated. The prognosis depends on specific variants of biological and clinical criteria. In this regard we differentiated two groups of tumors; the so-called 'typical' tumors with a histological grading of WHO Grade I, no prior fractionated radiotherapy and no cystic component and the so called 'atypical' tumors with either a malignant transformation, previous fractionated radiotherapy and/or cystic components. The outcome after GKS was much more favourable for typical PA than for atypical. In typical cases a high tumor control with a very low risk of side effects can be achieved.