Beyond childhood: exploring the state of transitional care in pediatric pilocytic astrocytoma.

Objective: Pediatric pilocytic astrocytoma (PPA) requires prolonged follow-up after initial resection. The landscape of transitional care for PPA patients is not well characterized. The authors sought to examine the clinical course and transition to adult care for these patients to better characterize opportunities for improvement in long-term care.

Methods: Pediatric patients (younger than 18 years at diagnosis) who underwent biopsy or resection for PPA between May 2000 and November 2022 at the authors' large academic center were retrospectively reviewed. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, recurrence, adjuvant therapies, and follow-up data were extracted from the electronic medical record via chart review. Charts of patients who were 18 years or older as of January 1, 2024, were reviewed for adult follow-up notes.

Results: The authors identified 315 patients who underwent biopsy or resection for PPA between May 2000 and November 2022. The most common tumor location was posterior fossa (59.7%), and gross-total resection (GTR) was achieved in 187 patients (59.4%). In patients with GTR, progression/recurrence occurred less frequently (8.6% vs 41.4%, p < 0.01) compared to patients with non-GTR. Among 177 patients found to be age-eligible for transition to adult care, the authors found that 31 (17.5%) successfully transitioned. The average age at transition from pediatric to adult care was 21.7 years, and the average age at last known adult follow-up was 25.0 years. The authors found that patients who transitioned to adult care were followed longer (12.5 vs 7.0 years, p < 0.01) and were diagnosed at an older age (12.1 vs 9.6 years, p < 0.01) than their untransitioned counterparts.

Conclusions: The authors found that there was a low rate of successful transition from pediatric to adult care for PPA; 17.5% of age-eligible patients are now cared for by adult providers, whereas an additional 18.6% completed appropriate follow-up during childhood and did not require transition to adult care. These findings underscore opportunities for improvement in the pediatric-to-adult transition process for patients with PPA, particularly for those with non-GTR who were not followed for at least 10 years, during which the risk of disease progression is thought to be highest.