Extracranial neuroblastomas and neurological complications

Between October 1989 and March 1997, 25 pediatric inpatients were treated for primary extracranial neuroblastoma (NB; n=20) or ganglioneuroblastoma (GNB; n=5) at the University of Istanbul, Institute of Pediatric Oncology, and these children were the subjects of this retrospective study. Seventeen (68%) of these patients experienced 19 neurological complications during the course of their disease. Fourteen had nervous system metastases or invasion. Nonmetastatic complications, including CNS infections (n=3) and new onset of seizures (n=2) secondary to metabolic encephalopathy were seen in 5 cases. By the time of the final analysis of the results, 8 of the 17 patients with neurological complications had died, 7 had either been lost to follow-up (n=4) or were in the terminal stage of their disease (n=3), and 2 were in remission. Both of the patients who were in remission had dumbbell neuroblastoma (DNB), and 1 of them, with congenital DNB, also had neurological sequelae, characterized by paraplegia and neurogenic bladder. Neurological complications occurred in 68% of NB and GNB cases. Metastatic complications were more common than nonmetastatic complications and had a poor prognosis. Neurological complications were the primary cause of mortality in this study, mortality being related to neurological complications in 63% of cases, and the final outcome was worse than expected. However, regardless of any differences in social, economic and geographic factors and different treatment protocols for NB in different pediatric oncology institutions, neurological complication rates in pediatric NB are similar in all.