Brain tumors in children at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital

This was a retrospective study of brain tumors in children at the Department of Pediatrics, Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. There were 185 patients diagnosed with brain tumor during a period of 10 years. Only 169 patients with complete data were reviewed. The age range was from 6 months to 14 years old. There were 95 males and 74 females with a male : female ratio of 1.3:1. Duration of illness prior to brain tumor diagnosis was in the range of 1 weeks to 5 years. Eighty percent of the patients were diagnosed within 5 months after the clinical onset. Most common presenting symptoms were headache (69%), vomiting (66%), ataxia (37%), and limb weakness (24%). Tumors were located at the supratentorial region in 82 patients (48.5%) and the infratentorial region in 87 (51.5%). Tissue diagnoses were available in 135 patients. The most common tumors were astrocytic tumors of various grades, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and craniopharygioma. Chiang Mai Med Bull 2003;42(4):139-147.