Primary intracranial neoplasms of infancy and early childhood.

We investigated the age-related location, gender distribution, and histology of 107 brain tumors in children under 4 years of age seen in our department between 1984 and 1997. The male-to-female ratio was 1.4 (62/45 cases) with a prevalence of supratentorial tumors (60/47 = 1.3); the main histological entity was astrocytoma (33.6%), followed by ependymoma (14.0%). In the 1st year of life 22 cerebral neoplasms became clinically apparent. A higher ratio for supratentorial tumors was revealed (17/5 = 3.4), but without gender preference, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) were the most frequent (5/22). In the 2nd year 25 tumors were found. The male-to-female ratio was 1.5 (15/10) and the supratentorial-to-infratentorial ratio, 1.1 (13/12). The two most common entities were astrocytoma and ependymoma (6 cases each). In addition, a survey of previously published investigations into this subject was performed and a compilation of data on 1960, 545 and 1084 tumors in children below the age of 1, 2 and 4 years, respectively, was prepared, which makes it the most extensive review of brain tumors of infancy and early childhood yet undertaken.