[A rare case of upper respiratory insufficiency in a small child].

The authors present a case of superior respiratory insufficiency of neurologic nature in a 2-year-old child. The clinical and paraclinical examinations showed the existence of several compression phenomena at the level of the brain stem. The severe evolution and the death were explained by the discovery, at necropsy, of an astrocytoma, degree I, placed in the brain stem. Very seldom in the pediatric practice, superior respiratory insufficiency of the small child, at this age, is due to the astrocytoma of the brain stem. The assistance of such an illness requires an intensive care of the children.