Malignant abdominal tumors in children.

The medical records of 53 patients between the ages of 1 and 18 years, with malignant abdominal tumors seen between 1987 and 1993 were reviewed. Wilms' tumor was the most common tumor constituting 28.3% of all cases. The others included Non- Hodgkin's lymphomas (20.8%), neuroblastomas (11.3%), rhabdomyosarcomas, germ cell tumors 9.4% each and a miscellaneous group. Majority of patients (60.3%) were under 5 years of age. The male to female ratio was 1:1. Among 15 patients with Wilms' tumor, majority (46.7%) had stage III tumors at presentation and all but one patient, were referred to our Hospital more than a month following initiation of their symptoms. In contrast, 5 out of 7 patients with Stage I and II tumors were seen within the first month of their symptoms. The commonly utilized techniques to aid diagnosis were ultrasonography and computerized tomography scan and the common treatment modality was a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. For Wilms' tumor, the mean follow-up was 1 year and nine months, the survival rate was 93.3% and there were no recurrences. With early diagnosis and multimodality treatment, the survival rates for childhood malignancies can be greatly improved.