ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION This chapter addresses the neurologic complications of the cancers unique to childhood, as well as the toxicity of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy on the developing central nervous system (CNS). In a recent Turkish series, acute leukemia was the most common malignancy (37%) seen during childhood but other cancers that brought children to the hospital included neuroblastoma (33%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (13%), rhabdomyosarcoma (10%), Ewing tumor (3%) and Hodgkins lymphoma (3%) (1). Nervous system involvement may be manifest by neoplastic infiltration of the brain parenchyma, nerve rootlets, meninges, or the orbit. While once considered rare, neurologic impairments are increasingly the presenting symptom of a malignancy during infancy and childhood. For example, nonspecific complaints, such as back pain, generalized weakness and unexplained falls, have often been attributed to the anemia of chronic illness, but may also be due to epidural compression of the spinal cord.
