Hourglass Tumors of the Spine in Children

Abstract

The rarity of tumors of the spinal cord has been pointed out by the authors of monographs on the subject (Elsberg1; Antoni2; Schlesinger 3).Hourglass tumors of the spine form only a small part of the entire group of tumors, and in children they are particularly uncommon. Because of this rarity, and especially because of the unusual course, development and response to treatment of hourglass tumor of the spine in a young child under our care, we believe the case worthy of presentation. A brief survey of the literature reveals how rarely primary tumors of the spine are found in children. Of 100 tumors of the spinal cord operated on by Elsberg, there were 6 in children under 15 years of age and 2 in children under 10 years of age. Stursberg 4 in a total of 144 tumors of the spinal cord found only 1 in a child under 10 years of age and 6 in children between the ages of 10 and 15 years. Adson and Ott5 reported 2 tumors of the spinal cord in children in a series of 112 such tumors. Frazier 6 found 5 of these tumors in children in a total of 330, and Stookey 7 found 8 in children in a series of 165 verified From the Pediatric Service of Dr. L.

Noradrenaline-secreting Neuroblastomata

“…Spontaneous regression has been reported by Greenstein and Berenberg (1939). Beck and Howard (1951) recorded " cures" in 47 of 475 cases-that is, 10%.…”

Pediatrics

“…In some cases favorable response to the administration of steroids early in the patient's clinical course, or in first attack of carditis, has suggested that the course of active carditis might be altered by decreasing both the severity and duration of the attack, and that in reducing the severity of acute ex acerbations, steroids might also be useful even in patients with chronic rheumatic carditis (43,44,45). This important subject is, however, still con troversial.…”