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Tumours of the Endocrine Glands

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Cancer in Children

Part of the book series: UICC International Union Against Cancer ((1360))

Abstract

The clinical presentation of a child with an endocrine tumour may be caused by the effects of a mass lesion, a hormone excess state or hormone deficiencies. Medical awareness of a hormone deficiency tends to lag behind that of a mass lesion. For example, the diagnosis of craniopharyngioma is nearly always precipitated by severe, persistent headache or visual loss, even though short stature and pituitary hormone deficiencies are frequently already present. Production of excess hormone by a tumour may interfere with growth and sexual development in a number of ways, such as precocious or delayed pubertal development, virilization, feminization, gynaecomastia, gigantism and Cushing’s syndrome. Fortunately, endocrine tumours, except for neuroblastoma, are uncommon in childhood; for example, pituitary tumours account for 1% of all intracranial tumours in children but 10%–18% of those in adults.

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Authors
  1. S. M. Shalet
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  2. A. L. Ogilvy-Stuart
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  3. S. R. Ahmed
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatric Oncology, Emma Kinderziekenhuis, Div. of Paediatrics Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, rm F8-239, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    P. A. Voûte

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Beatson Oncology Centre, Western Infirmary, G11 6NT, Glasgow, UK

    Ann Barrett

  3. Service de Pédiatrie, Institut Gustave Roussy, Rue Camille Desmoulins, F-94805, Villejuif Cedex, France

    Jean Lemerle

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Shalet, S.M., Ogilvy-Stuart, A.L., Ahmed, S.R. (1992). Tumours of the Endocrine Glands. In: Voûte, P.A., Barrett, A., Lemerle, J. (eds) Cancer in Children. UICC International Union Against Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84722-6_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84722-6_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84724-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84722-6

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