Clinical Aspects of Pediatric Brain Tumors

Brain tumors are the most common solid tumor entity in children and constitute 15 to 20% of all childhood malignancies. All health care professionals seeing children should be able to identify signs and symptoms arising from a central nervous system (CNS) tumor and refer or investigate appropriately. Despite advances in neuroimaging, the timely diagnosis of CNS tumors remains difficult. It is well-known that any delay in diagnosis leads to further tumor progress and thus worsens the outcome and the risk of additional brain damage, thus making an early diagnosis crucial. This article reviews the presenting clinical features that characterize children with brain tumors.