A Clinical Analysis of Pediatric Brain Tumors

ABSTRACT

The authors analyzed 50 children(below 15 years old) with intracranial tumors which were confirmed by operation during 5.5 years from Jan, 1983 to Jul. 1989 retrospectively. The results were as follows 1) Incidence of pediatric brain tumors was 13.1% among the all intracranial tumors(383 cases). 2) Pediatric brain tumors were found most frequently between the age of six and thirteen years(74.0%), and the ratio of male to female was 1.6 1. 3) In respect of location, supratentorial and infratentorial tumors were seen in each 25 patients, and the tumor of central neural axis(58.0%) was more frequent than that of lateral portion(42.0%). 4) The most common tumor was astrocytoma(32.0%) in the supratentorium, and medulloblastoma(26.0%) in the infratentorium. 5) Headache and vomiting were the most common complaining symptoms and papilledema was the most common sign. 6) Hydrocephalus associated with tumors was 24.0% in supratentorium and 88.0% in infratentorium. 7) Postoperative mortality within 1 month was 12.0%.