[Intracranial tumors in the 1st year of life].

The introduction of the new diagnostic tools for neuroimaging has resulted in the early recognition of congenital brain tumors. In the present report we describe 39 children, in whom the diagnosis of an intracranial tumor has been obtained during the first 12 months of life. These patients represent 14.4% of a pediatric population of 271 children with brain tumors, observed in the same period of time (11 years) in the Neurosurgical Institute of the Catholic University of Rome. Most of the tumors were located within the supratentorial compartment. Midline tumors were common. Sixteen children underwent the total removal of the tumor. Four infants could not be operated either because their poor general condition or the extension of the tumor. In one case, treatment was refused by the parents. The remaining children underwent the partial removal of the tumor, which was followed by chemotherapy (malignant tumors) or by serial neuroradiological examination (benign tumors), with the aim of postponing radiotherapy at the end of 2 years of age at least. The total mortality (surgical deaths: 7 cases) and deaths during the follow-up period (11 cases) was 38.5%. Out of the 24 surviving children, 8 (20%) are normal: 7 (17%) exhibit only minimal neurosurgical deficits; 9 (22%) are seriously handicapped. One child has been lost for the follow-up observation.