[Neonatal brain tumor, a report of three cases]

Neonatal brain tumor is rare, but is so important a disease when considering the pathogenesis of the brain tumor that numerous review articles have been described. Today, the availability of noninvasive imaging procedures such as CT and MRI make it easy to diagnose, and some successful operative cases have been reported. We report three cases of neonatal brain tumors presented clinically within the first 2 weeks. Case 1: A full term boy admitted with projectile vomiting, enlarged head and left peripheral type facial palsy at the age of 12 days. CT scan revealed a large heterogeneous mixed-density mass in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Partially removed surgical specimen consisted of primitive glial cells differentiating with the ependymal cell immunohistochemically and electron microscopically, and diagnosed as ependymoblastoma. He had whole brain irradiation postoperatively, but died from respiratory distress 7 months later without tumor regrowth indicated on CT. Case 2: A full term boy admitted with progressive enlarging of the head at the age of 10 days. CT scan revealed a high-density mass in the cerebellar vermis and an obstructive hydrocephalus. Partially removed surgical specimen, diagnosed as medulloblastoma. He was irradiated throughout the whole brain and spinal cord, but died from intracranial dissemination 5 months later. Case 3: A 32-year-old female multipara was diagnosed as hydramnion during 28 weeks gestation. The concentration of AFP was very high in the amniotic fluid. A premature female fetus, weighing 1,650 g, was delivered by cesarean section for premature separation of the placenta during an estimated 30 weeks gestation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)