Involvement of the Nervous System in Metastatic Disease of Childhood

Abstract

Metastatic tumours involving the central nervous system are considered to be rare in children (1); this is in marked contrast to adults in which metastases usually from a systemic primary tumour account for between 10 and 20% of intracranial tumours (2, 3, 4). In recent years improved therapy has prolonged life expectancy from many neoplasms which has increased the likelihood of eventual nervous system involve­ment by some tumours. Also the development of the effective and minimally invasive procedure of computed tomography has facilitated the detection of tumours in the nervous system. We considered that it would be of interest to assess the present incidence and the features, especially on computed tomograms, of involvement of the central nervous system by metastatic malignancy in children and have reviewed our material to this end.