Abstract
BACKGROUND: Central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the leading solid tumors in the childhood population but vastly underreported in the African population. There’s limited data on childhood brain tumors as well as the histopathological distribution in Kenya. Our study aimed at assessing the spectrum as well as the level of correlation with imaging in diagnosis of brain tumors within two major hospital settings. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional retrospective descriptive study conducted at the two major hospitals in Kenya: Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). Children who underwent treatment for brain tumors between 2015 and 2017 and whose tissue biopsies were available at the laboratory archives were included. RESULTS: 87 cases were available for review, and the majority of the affected population were of ages 5–9 years. The most affected site was infratentorial compartment (48.3%) with gliomas and medulloblastoma being equally distributed. Majority of the gliomas were low grade (69%) with pilocytic astrocytoma being the most common subtype (42.9%). The overall sensitivity for the diagnosis of brain tumors through radiology was 69.4%. The level of correlation of histopathological to radiological diagnosis was statistically insignificant with P and kappa values of 0.814 and -0.024 respectively. CONCLUSION: Gliomas and medulloblastomas were the commonest tumors at both centers. Histopathological diagnoses have a high concordance of agreement among various morphologists. The level of correlation between histopathological and radiological diagnosis was high. Next steps include standardizing clinical, radiological and pathological details within Kenya.