A modern analysis of intracranial tumors of infancy.

OBJECTIVE: The management results of pediatric brain tumors should have improved with progress in neurosurgery, intra- and perioperative care, and adjunctive therapy. We assessed the outcomes of 88 consecutive children under 2 years of age with brain tumors managed in the modern era, primarily by two neurosurgeons, and compared the results within the study group over time and to historical controls.
METHODS: Medical records were reviewed for diagnosis, location, surgery, surgical morbidity and mortality, adjunctive therapy, and long-term results. Outcomes were available on all 88 patients.
RESULTS: Primitive neuroectodermal tumors, astrocytomas, ependymoma, and choroid plexus papillomas in descending order of frequency accounted for two thirds of tumors. Supratentorial location predominated (60%), although in the 1- to 2-year group, there was a slight majority of infratentorial tumors. Surgical mortality and immediate morbidity were 9 and 26%, respectively, with substantial improvements in the last half of the series (2 and 16% with long-term morbidity of 11%). 53 of 88 (60%) of our patients are alive, and all children treated since January 1, 1994, except for 1 operative death, remain alive.
CONCLUSION: Children less than 2 years of age remain a multidisciplinary challenge. Improved neuroimaging, surgical and pediatric intensive care management, and neuro-oncological care seems to have improved outcome both with respect to tumor control and neurological function. Aggressive surgery is possible with a good outcome generally expected. Hopefully this will set the stage for either surgical cure in children with benign tumors or combined surgical and adjunctive cure in patients with malignant tumors.