Abstract
Of all the childhood cerebral neoplasms diagnosed by computed tomography (CT) at the Hospital for Sick Children during a 3-year period (203 cases), about 11% (23 cases) were detected in children under 2 years of age. This incidence is higher than previously reported. Astrocytoma, grades I and II, was the most common diagnosis and it was frequently shown as a very large, invasive lesion. Neoplasms occurred more frequently in boys and were more common in the supratentorial compartment than in older children. Clinical diagnosis of brain neoplasms in infancy is difficult and the child with an enlarging head and only minor clinical signs should be suspected of having a cerebral tumor until proved otherwise. CT, with its high diagnostic sensitivity and ease and safety of performance, has increased the clinical awareness and the diagnosis of these neoplasms in very small children, and may be responsible for the seeming increase of cerebral neoplasms within this age group.
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