Neonatal oncology: Diagnostics and management

Abstract

Tumors are rarely diagnosed in newborns. Natural history of such tumors, their type, and response to treatment differ from those seen in older children. The etiology is still unclear. In this paper, a retrospective study is presented of diagnostics and management of neonatal tumors from 2008 to 2012. Out of 518 neonatal admissions in that period, tumors were diagnosed in 15 patients (2.8%), in only 3 of them (20.0%) prenatally. The diagnosed tumors were teratomas (4), retroperitoneal (4), and liver tumors (7). Ten of them (66.6%) had a natural history of benign tumors. Complete surgical excision was the treatment of choice in 10 (66.6%) cases and there was no need for adjuvant chemotherapy.