Background: The aim of the study was to analyze the pre-diagnostic symptomatic interval (PSI) of children with brain tumors with regard to the parental and doctor's delay and the clinical symptoms. Methods: A retrospective review of all children with brain tumors diagnosed in a single centre over a period of 11 years was carried out. Results: Seventy-nine patients (35 boys, 44 girls), with a mean age of 9.2 years (0.2-23.5 years), were analyzed. PSI was 28 weeks with a parental delay of 11.1 weeks and a doctor's delay of 16.9 weeks. Main clinical symptoms were headache (66.7%), vomiting (57.7%), vision (46.2%) and gait (41.6) disorders and fatigue (41.0%) followed by other neurological signs. Conclusions: Diagnosis of pediatric brain tumors is often delayed in relation to the presenting symptoms. If parents report a combination of headache with other neurological abnormalities, a brain tumor should always be considered.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.