Glioblastoma in children.

Both morphologic and clinical features of 72 consecutive cases of brain tumors, collected over 9 years at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, were reviewed. We identified 11 cases as glioblastoma, representing 16% of all intracranial neoplasm and 26% of glial tumors. The patients ranged in age from 1 to 15 years with the median age of 10 years. There were 4 females and 7 males; 2 blacks and 9 whites. The median survival was 9 months. The tumor was observed in both cerebrum and cerebellum. Sexual predominance was not appreciable, although there was male excess. The tumor was significantly more frequent in whites than blacks (p less than 0.05). Similar racial predominance was noted in the other, more common brain tumors in children such as astrocytoma and medulloblastoma.