Affections pseudotumorales: Dix ans d'expérience dans un service d'oncologie pédiatrique

Purpose. - Among the 350 new patients per year treated in the pediatric oncology department of the Gustave-Roussy Institute, about 2% have no tumor. This study analyzes these children presenting a pseudotumoral disease. Patients and methods. - Ten-year- retrospective study. Patients for which no follow up in oncology was necessary after one consultation or hospitalization were selected. Outcome. - Between 1990 and 2000, 64 patients were seen in the pediatric department for pseudotumoral disease. The reasons of orientation were mainly a soft tissue mass (15 cases), an abdominal mass (14 cases), or a bone lesion (13 cases). Diagnosis was most often infectious diseases (33 cases), or post-traumatic lesions (10 cases). Diagnosis was established following several consultations or an hospitalization for 29 of 64 patients. In 75 % of the cases new investigations were necessary to determine the diagnosis. A biopsy was performed in 19. For two children, diagnosis was corrected after the beginning of chemotherapy. Conclusion. - Pseudotumoral diseases leading to a consultation in pediatric oncology are rare and represent two per cent of the patients. For these difficult cases, only a pluridisciplinary discussion may lead to diagnosis.