The ependymoma is a primary brain tumor that originates from particular cells called ependymal cells .
Ependymal cells are part of glia cells, therefore ependymomas fall into the category of gliomas, or neoplasms of the brain that derive from a genetic alteration of glia cells.
An ependymoma can be benign - hence slow growing and with low infiltrative power - or malignant - that is, very fast growth and high infiltrative capacity.
Given that the degree of a neoplasm to the brain is an index of its severity and that to a greater degree corresponds a more serious brain neoplasm, the benign ependymomas are tumors of degrees I or II, while malignant ependymomas are grade III tumors .
According to some studies, the prognosis in case of ependymoma presents the following numbers and particularities with an adequate and timely therapy:
- Without considering the age of onset and grade, the average survival rate 5 years after removal is just over 50% . In other words, more than 50 patients with ependymoma of 100 are still alive after 5 years of tumor removal.
- If we only consider cases of benign ependymoma in adults, the average survival rate at 5 years after removal is around 61-65% . Conversely, if we analyze only cases of malignant ependymoma in adults, the average survival rate at 5 years after excision is less than 50%. Indeed, in this second case, it seems that patients live on average between 2 and 3 years.
- With regard to juvenile ependymomas, the average survival rate at 5 years after removal is almost 60% . As in the case of adults, this value improves significantly if only benign forms of cancer are examined, and it becomes worse if we consider only malignant tumors.
