Late results of radical excision of craniopharyngiomas in children.

The results of radical surgical excision of craniopharyngiomas in children operated on by Dr. Donald Matson beginning in 1950 are presented. The patients are analyzed in regard to survival and quality of survival. While 22 of 34 children so treated at the initial operation are presently alive and tumor-free, high mortality and morbidity followed in cases where reoperation was performed. Properly treated endocrinological deficits need not be a serious problem, but persistent hyperosmolality carried a grave prognosis. No predictive criteria are yet available to determine which tumors are amenable to radical surgical excision.