Ocular Symptoms Can Provide Early Warning of Brain Tumors in Kids

Early-onset ocular signs of tumor often mimic common and less severe eye conditions. Acute onset of conditions such as strabismus and pupil abnormalities should raise concerns. Photo: Sgfin/Wikimedia Commons. Click image to enlarge. The survival rate for children with brain tumors has greatly improved in the last few decades. However, delays in diagnosis are still common and are linked to worse prognosis and reduced quality of life. Initial symptoms vary but there are several common eye symptoms that may not immediately set off alarm bells for a tumor. To learn more, researchers in Denmark studied the frequency, diagnostic interval and prognostic value of ophthalmologic tumor signs in children. They found several, but despite the presence of these signs, the diagnostic interval was still long. The researchers identified 437 children diagnosed with primary brain tumor from the Danish health registries between 2007 and 2017. Of these 437 children, 51.7% had ophthalmological tumor signs prior to diagnosis, and 10.8% had ophthalmological symptoms at initial tumor manifestation.The researchers reported that the most common ophthalmological signs before diagnosis were reduced visual acuity, diplopia, abnormal optic nerve and strabismus. The median time from the initial onset of symptoms to tumor diagnosis was 12.6 weeks for all children and 15.9 weeks for children who showed ophthalmological symptoms as the initial tumor sign. Median time to diagnosis was 12.5 weeks for children with ophthalmological tumor signs at any time before diagnosis. Those with ophthalmological signs before diagnosis were at greater risk for death.“Children with brain tumors in Denmark have a prolonged diagnostic interval, but this does not differ in children with or without ophthalmological tumor signs,” the researchers explained in their Eye paper. “Ophthalmological tumor signs are frequent and associated with worse prognosis, emphasizing the importance of timely standardized ophthalmological referral and assessment performed by ophthalmologists to reduce the diagnostic interval and improve the prognosis for children with brain tumors.”Click here for the journal source. Christiansen J, Mathiasen R, Heegaard S, et al. Early ophthalmological tumour signs and diagnostic interval in children with brain tumors. Eye (Lond.) 2025. [Epub ahead of print].