Neural tumours of the head and neck

Abstract

Objective: To document the pattern of occurrence of all primary neural tumours arising in the neck and craniofacial region over the period 1982 to 1991. Design: A retrospective study. Setting: Cancer Registry, Nairobi, Kenya. Results: Out of the 289 cases who were identified to have had whole body neural tumours, 225(77.8%) had the lesions distributed in the neck and craniofacial area. While 80% of the neoplasms located in this region were retinoblastomas (mainly occurring in the age group 0 to 4 years), other lesion types occurred in small numbers thus: neurofibromas comprised 12.4%, Schwannomas four per cent, neuroblastomas and neuromas each 0.4%; and extracranial gliomas 2.7%. Overall, the male to female ratio was 1:1 and the site distribution revealed that over 90% of the lesions afflicted the upper face. Conclusion: Neural tumours of the neck and craniofacial region appear generally rare in this population as has been shown elsewhere.