Histological and genetic features predict outcome in infratentorial ependymomas of childhood

Introduction: We aimed to identify outcome predictors in children with posterior fossa ependymomas. Methods: Tumor samples of 132 patients aged 0.2 – 15.9 years treated according to HIT protocols were analyzed for histological features such as mitotic activity, necrosis and vascular proliferation and genomic alterations by SNP and molecular inversion profiling. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. Results: Residual tumor, chromosome 1q gain and structural genomic alterations were identified as predictors of significantly shorter event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS).…