Head and Neck Tumors in Children

Abstract

Eighty pediatric patients with head and neck tumors treated at our department over the 10-year period from 1987 to 1996, were reviewed. The subjects included 33 males and 47 females. The age at the first visit to our department ranged from 2 days to 15 years 3 months, with a mean of 3 years. The most common head and neck tumor in children was hemangioma (31 cases), followed by lymphangioma (17), malignant tumor (8), hamartoma (6), pleomorphic adenoma (3), laryngeal papilloma (3), tongue papilloma (3) and fibromatosis (2). We also had one case each of calcifying epithelioma, angiofibroma, histiocytosis X, glioma, neurilemmoma, osteoma and teratoma. The 8malignant tumors consisted of 4 rhabdomyosarcomas,2 metastatic neuroblastomas,1 metastatic congenital leukemia lesion and 1 mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the larynx. Among the children with hemangiomas, one fourth showed subglottic space involvement. Two thirds of the lymphangiomas were located in the neck region and half of the hamartomas were located in the midline of the tongue. The symptom onset for these tumors ranged from 0 days to 13 years 4 months, and nearly half of the cases had manifestations at birth. It is noteworthy that none of the patients with subglottic hemangiomas had symptoms at birth despite the congenital nature of their disorders, which did not become evident until 1-2 months of age.