Intracranial tumors of children

A report is made on 323 intracranial tumors of children reported to the Cancer Registry in Finland in 1958-1967. The most common sites were the cerebellum, cerebral hemispheres and brain stem. 54% of the tumors were in the posterior fossa. The most common histological types were medulloblastoma, cerebellar astrocytoma and ependymoma. The incidence on the basis of this series was 2.4/10(5)/y. The general outlook for intracranial tumors in childhood was not very good. After a follow-up time of from 5 to 16 years, 31% of the patients were alive. The best prognosis was in cerebellar astrocytomas and cerebral spongioblastomas. In some tumors of the thalamus and third ventricle remissions for over 10 years were achieved by shunt and radiotherapy alone.