Intracranial tumors in infants: a single institution experience of 22 patients

The prognosis in infants with brain tumors has hitherto been very poor. The purpose of the study was to collect and analyze information regarding the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of these patients and to assess the eventual prognosis regarding survival and response to treatment.

This study retrospectively reviewed the records of 22 infants with brain tumors at our institution between November 1995 and October 2009. Their medical records were retrieved for age at diagnosis, presenting features, location, histology, surgical procedures, adjuvant treatment, recurrence, and survival.

The patients included 18 boys and four girls. The median age at diagnosis was 3 months with a range of antenatal diagnosis at 36 weeks of gestation up to 11.9 months. The group included four patients with definite congenital tumors presented in the perinatal period. The common presenting signs included increased head circumference, seizure, and vomiting. Over half of the tumors were histologically benign; however, medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor is the most frequent tumor type, accounting for six patients. Surgical resection was attempted in 18 patients, and three of them died in early postoperative period. Cerebrospinal fluid diversion was required in 11 patients, and seven of these patients needed VP shunting. Four patients received adjuvant chemotherapy, but one of them subsequently received salvage radiotherapy.

Because of the expandability of the skull, brain tumors in infants may have protean manifestations. Although pathology categorization was quite a variable in our study, three quarters have tangibly survived after current therapeutic modalities.