Objective:

To describe the clinical characteristics of the group of children diagnosed with Wilms’ tumor in Costa Rica and what was the clinical evolution according to the different treatments received in the Oncohematology Division of the National Children’s Hospital.

Methods:

This is a retrospective descriptive study that analyzed the patients with diagnosis of Wilms tumor confirmed by biopsy in period of 20 years. We reviewed 69 records of patients aged between 0 and 13 years, in which the clinical, therapeutic (chemotherapy, radiotherapy) and prognostic data (global and disease-free survival) of each one were analyzed.

Results:

A total sample of 69 cases was analyzed. Among the results, it was found that the patients presented an average age of 41.3 months at the moment of diagnosis. The average follow-up was 7.4 years. The presence of an abdominal mass was the predominant clinical finding (55%). In addition, stage III was the most common (31.8%). Total nephrectomy without tumor rupture was the surgical procedure in the majority of cases. 80% of the patients presented favorable histology in the histopathological analysis. In 51% of cases, pre-surgical chemotherapy was used. 17% of the patients presented pulmonary metastasis. Overall survival was 73.3% and disease free survival was 69%.

Conclusions:

Costa Rican patients with localized Wilms’ tumor had poorer results than that of patients in developed countries, but the survival was similar in metastatic cases.

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