Abstract
Six cases of brain tumor with seizures in children, 1-14 years old, two boys and four girls, were reported. These cases showed neither abnormal neurological findings nor symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, except two cases who showed the mental disturbances, such as emotional incotinence and disorientation in one case and menory disturbance and irritable character in the other cases. All cases manifested generalized tonic seizures, and one of these cases showed generalized tonic and clonic convulsions and another case had psychomotor seizures. Jacksonian or focal seizures were not observed in any cases. The interval from the initial seizures to the diagnosis ranged from three weeks to three years. Electroencephalogram showed focal slow bursts in all cases. In two cases, focal spikes were found. A high densisty area in computed tomography (CT) was found in all cases. The diagnosis of the brain tumor without any abnormal neuro logical findings in children should be indebted to CT examination. All cases were operated on, and the tumors were removed totally or subtotally. These brain tumors were found in the frontal lobe in two cases, in the temporal lobe in three cases and in the middle cranial fossa in one case. The tumor size was from 5 to 310 grams in weight, and it was not related to the duration of symptoms. Histological diagnosis was tuberous sclerosis, teratoid tumor, ependymoma, gemistocytic astrocytoma, malignant meningioma and angioblastic meningioma. The nature, incidence and localization of the brain tumor with seizures, the seizure type and the clinical examination were discussed. The seizure in brain tumor does not show a characteristic pattern in children. It will be necessary to perform the CT scan in the case with a focal slow burst on the electroencephalogram. Electroencephalography and CT scan seem to be the valuable diagnostic method for differentiating the symptomatic epilepsy.
