Epidemiological Survey of Central Nervous System Tumors Admitted in a Reference Hospital in the North Fluminense Region in Brazil

Abstract

Cancer is a major worldwide health problem, being an important cause of morbidity and mortality to population. In global scale, nervous system cancers represent around 1.8% of all malignant tumors in the planet. From 2020 to 2022, it’s estimated around 11.090 new cases of this type of cancer in Brazil. This study aims to raise epidemiological data on central nervous system tumors admitted to the oncology department of a reference hospital in the North Fluminense region in Brazil. Forty-four patients were included in this study, who were predominant males (56.8%), aged between 41 to 60 years old (47.7%), with tumors located primarily in the brain (65.9%) and histopathologically classified as glioblastomas (38.6%). Patients had no family history of cancer (64.3%), were non-smokers (68.2%), non-alcoholics (70%), undergoing primary surgical treatment (34.1%), who did not undergo adjuvant treatment (84.1%) and who died from the disease (66.7%). Glioblastoma was the most incident malignant neoplasm, followed by astrocytoma for both sexes, corroborating with literature data. In summary, this work contributes to a better understanding of these tumors, focusing on their prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.