[Cerebral tumours in infancy (author's transl)]

37 cases of cerebral hemispheric tumours are presented. These make up 23,1% of all the intracranial tumours observed over a period of 11 years in a Child Neurology Service. 19 cases were males and 18 females. Their ages were between 16 days and 7 1/2 years. Vomiting and headache were usually the first symptoms followed by seizures, frequently of the focal kind. Motor difficulties used to appear later. 69.6% of the cases presented a malfunctioning focus on the E.E.G. on the side of the tumor. The simple cranial X-Rays showed firstly widening of the fronto-parietal sutures, intracranial calcifications were seen in some of the cases with ependymonas and piloid astrocytoma in patients with Bourneville's disease. Pneumoencephalography as well as carotid angiography, radioisotope examination and computerized tomography gave us very positive results in the localization and determination of the size of the tumor. The ependymomas showed pathological vascularization regularly. The nature of the tumours corresponded to: 14 cases of ependymoma, 8 cases of astrocytoma I and II types, 1 case of astrocytoma of types III and IV, 3 cases of plexus papilloma, 2 cases of meningioma, 1 case of sarcoma of the basal ganglia, 1 case of teratoma, 3 cases of indifferentiated malignant tumours, 4 cases not proven. There was a 20% survival of patients five years later.