For a study, it was determined that due to their rarity, subependymomas are low-grade ependymal tumors with unknown clinical characteristics, radiological findings, and postsurgical prognosis. To better understand subependymomas, the authors described an institutional case series and a thorough literature review. Between 1992 and 2020, adult patients with histologically proven subependymoma or mixed subependymoma-ependymoma who underwent surgery at a tertiary hospital were identified. A chart analysis found 48 distinct patients with subependymoma; of these, 8 (16.7%) had mixed subependymoma-ependymoma tumors. At the time of diagnosis, the median age was 49 years (IQR 19.8 years), with 26 patients (54.2%) being male. About forty-two patients (87.5%) had intracranial subependymomas and 6 (12.5%) with spinal tumors. Although many tumors were discovered by chance (n=16, 33.3%), the most prevalent symptom was headache (n=20, 41.7%).
About 15 (35.7%) of the 42 patients with intracranial tumors had hydrocephalus, and the most prevalent surgical method (n=26, 61.9%) was a suboccipital approach with or without C1 laminectomy. In 33 cases (68.7%), gross-total resection (GTR) was performed, and two patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. Only one patient (2.1%) had a recurrence following GTR, while most patients had no serious postsurgical problems (n=34, 70.8%). Out of the 2,036 reports found throughout the systematic review, researchers found 39 eligible for inclusion, totaling 477 patients. Around 406 (87.9%) of the 462 patients with tumor locations recorded were intracranial, with the most prevalent lateral ventricle (=214, 46.3%).
Nearly 53 patients (11.5%) had spinal subependymomas, with three cases (0.6%) having multiple sites. The most prevalent presenting symptom (n=231, 54.0%) among the 428 patients whose presentation was described as a headache, which was similar to the case series at the authors’ institution. About 27 individuals (6.3%) were diagnosed by chance, while 36 cases (8.4%) were discovered at autopsy. For 350 patients, the extent of resection was documented by them, and GTR was accomplished in 250. (71.4%). Recurrence or advancement occurred in 15 of 337 patients (4.5%). According to the authors‘ case series and literature evaluation, patients with subependymoma are adequately handled with resection and have a generally satisfactory prognosis.
