Case reports: Case 1: Failure to thrive up from an age of 5 months with deceleration from the 50th to
below the 3rd weight percentile. Exclusion of maldigestive/malabsorptive syndromes.
A dietary assessment revealed sub caloric nutrition (47 kcal/kg/d) and an infantile
eating disorder was suspected. Following initiation of nasogastic tube feeding, normal
weight gain was transitorily achieved. At an age of 10 months a hypothalamic tumour
was diagnosed by cerebral ultrasound. (Histology: pilocytic astrocytome WHO I).
Case 2
: Failure to thrive up from an age of 2 months with a drop of weight from the 97th
to the 3rd percentile. At an age of 3 months a large hypothalamic tumor with progression
towards the optic chiasma was diagnosed by cerebral ultrasound. (Histology: pilocytic
astrocytoma WHO I).
Results: We present 2 infants with normal psychomotor development and neurological status
in whom diencephalic tumours led to failure to thrive in the absence of signs of elevated
intracranial pressure.
Conclusion: In infants presenting with failure to thrive a cerebral tumour should be considered
even in the absence of further signs and symptoms. Cerebral ultrasound can lead to
early diagnosis.
Keywords: dystrophy, failure to thrive, CNS tumour pilocytic astrocytoma
