[Epidemiology of primary tumors of the central nervous system in the 1st year of life].

148 children under the age of 5 have been identified from the files of the National Cancer Registry of the GDR. They all had primary tumors of the central nervous system (CNS), which were histopathologically diagnosed in the period 1975 to 1980. Additional information concerning their health status and diseases was collected from birth history, postnatal care-unit files, out- and in-patient medical records and other sources. Based on these materials the time of clinical onset of the disease has been elucidated. In 12 of the 148 patients the onset was in the perinatal period and in another 36 during the first year of life. 1,322,450 births took place in the GDR in the index period. The incidence of primary tumors of the CNS with onset of signs and symptoms prior to the end of the first year of life was 3.6 per 100,000 births. The most common type of tumor was astrocytoma, with an incidence of 0.9/100,000. It is followed in frequency by other neuroectodermal tumors and by intracranial teratomas. No meningiomas or pituitary adenomas had their onset in infancy. The conclusion is drawn that the incidence of neuroectodermal tumors is almost the same in newborns and infants as it is in older age groups. The findings contradict the genera view, that CNS tumors in infants are very rare.