Clinical aspects and long-term prognosis in supratentorial tumors of infancy and childhood

Abstract

A total of 132 children, less than 15 yr of age at the time of diagnosis of an intracranial supratentorial utmor, were followed from 1-40 yr. The patient material was unselected and the follow-up 100%. Seventy-three were boys and 59 were girls. The tumors were located in the lateral region of the brain in 70 children and the midline in 62. Astrocytoma was the most common histological type, followed by cranipharyngioma. The occurrence of the most malignant tumor types was significantly higher in the lateral than in the midline region. Eighty-four children survived for more than 1 mo. after the initial diagnosis or surgery, and 29 of these were alive 15-40 yr after operation. Forty-five percent of the children with tumors situated laterally and 30% of those with midline tumors were alive after 15 yr. Fourteen percent of those who survived at least 15 yr had severe and 34% slight neurological defects.