Background: Large vascular brain tumors pose an exceptional challenge in young children. Choroid plexus papilloma (CPP) is an example of a rare, often large and especially vascular neuroepithelial tumor that most commonly arises in children under 5 yr old. Although patients may be cured by total resection, this tumor poses significant surgical risks and challenges related to intraoperative hemostasis.
Objective: To describe our experience using a transcollation system during brain tumor surgery in a child to achieve hemostasis and minimize blood loss while preserving normal brain tissue.
Methods: A 3-yr-old girl presented following a fall and was found to have a giant CPP growing from the right lateral ventricle. Given the vascularity of the tumor and the low intravascular reserve in a small child, a transcollation device was used to reduce blood loss intraoperatively.
Results: Gross total resection was achieved with approximately 300 mL of blood loss without complications. The patient did well postoperatively. Imaging performed at 3 mo after resection revealed return of normal brain architecture.
Conclusion: Transcollation devices appear to be an effective and safe addition to the armamentarium of neurosurgical hemostatic options in intracranial tumor resection in which there is a high risk of intraoperative hemorrhage.
Keywords: Aquamantys; Choroid plexus papilloma; Hemostasis; Pediatric tumor resection; Transcollation system.
Copyright © 2019 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.