[An autopsy case of a severely handicapped woman with subependymoma in infancy and multiple meningiomas in adulthood: problems of using radiation therapy for brain tumors in infancy].

We present an autopsy case of a severely handicapped 21-year-old woman. A subependymoma that was pathologically confirmed by biopsy was found at the age of 6 months, and radiation therapy was administered at 1 year. Thereafter, she developed severe growth retardation, spastic quadriplegia, profound mental retardation and intractable epilepsy. The patient died of acute cardiovascular failure at the age of 21. Unexpectedly, at autopsy more than 20 multiple meningiomas were found intracranially. Such a large number of meningiomas is rare, even though they might be induced by radiation. This case warns us of the use of radiotherapy for brain tumors in infancy, and points to the necessity of following such patients with radioimaging to detect radiation-induced brain tumors in an early stage.