Primary intracranial neoplasms in the first year of life

Abstract

Forty-one infants with histologically verified primary intracranial neoplasms were studied who had been diagnosed and treated during the first year of life at the Hospital for Sick Children during the years 1975–1986. Forty-one percent of tumors were astrocytomas, 22% were primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and 20% were choroid plexus papillomas. Seventy-one percent were located in the supratentorial compartment and 29% in the infratentorial compartment. Thirty percent were in the cerebral hemisphere, 12% in the optic pathway-hypothalamic region, 5% in the thalamus, 17% in the cerebellum, 5% in the brain stem, 12% in the lateral ventricles, 12% in the III ventricle, and 7% in the IV ventricle. The most common presenting features in this series of patients were vomiting and increasing head size. The symptoms and signs before diagnosis were present for 2 months or less in 87% of cases. Forty-four percent of the tumors were totally resected while only a partial resection or biopsy was carried out in 56%. Sixty-six percent of the patients required a CSF diversionary shunt. Twenty-nine percent of patients received radiotherapy. Slightly more than half of these received radiotherapy immediately after surgery, whereas delayed radiation therapy was performed in the remainder. The surgical mortality was 7.3%. Of the entire group, 39% have died, with most dying within 6 months of surgery. Treatment, survival relative to histologic type, psychomotor development, and neurologic function of the survivors are discussed.