DISTRIBUTION OF 1848 CASES WITH MALIGNANT PEDIATRIC TUMORS

Between the period from 1978 through 2000, 1848 pediatric patients under the age of 16 years, out of 1885 cases by excluding 37 children with benign lesions, referred to the Department of Radiation Oncology of Cerrahpaşa Medical School in Istanbul University, were retrospectively evaluated. In the same period, a total of 36 305 cases were registered and of that total, pediatric malignant tumors constituted 5.1 %. As per distribution by individual year, this rate varied between 3.1% and 6.9% and the distribution was homogeneous. Male/female ratio was 59.5% and 40.5%, respectively. Leukemia (25.8%) was the most common tumor, followed by central nervous system tumors (18.8%), lymphomas (16.3%), rare tumors (8.7%), soft tissue tumors (8.1%), renal tumors (6.8%), neuroblastomas (6.0%), bone tumors (5.7%) and retinoblastomas (3.8%). Most of the patients were referred from the Marmara and Black Sea regions at 73.2% and 12%, respectively. We conclude that leukemia, central nervous system tumors and lymphomas were the most common pediatric tumor types referred to our center.

Keywords: pediatric tumors, epidemiological analysis