Abstract
Childhood cancer is the most common cause of disease related death among children ages 0 to 19 years.It has not been defined as a public health problem because fewer than 12,500 cases are diagnosed each year. CNS tumors represent 21% of childhood cancers or about 2700 cases per year [1]. This rare group of tumors is composed of astrocytoma, 56% (n = 1510); embryonal tumors including medulloblastoma, supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor, and pineoblastoma, 20% (n = 550); ependymoma, 7% (n = 190); craniopharyngioma, 3% (n = 100); germ cell tumors, 3% (n = 100); and tumors involving the spinal cord, pituitary, and choroid plexus, 11% (n = 300) (Fig. 31-1).
Estimated incidence of pediatric CNS tumors in the United States.
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Merchant, T.E. (2008). Pediatric Brain Tumors: Conformal Radiation Therapy Perspective. In: Chin, L.S., Regine, W.F. (eds) Principles and Practice of Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71070-9_31
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