Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors: the Potential for Late Effects
by Sara Bottonley, RN, MSN, CPNP Texas Children’s Cancer Center
The survival rate of patients with childhood brain tumors continues to improve. However, survivors are at risk for a variety of physical, medical, cognitive, and/or psychosocial late effects. These late effects may be directly related to the type, location and extent of the brain tumor itself or a result of…
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Late Effects and Other Information
Interview with Dr. Michele Christie, M.D., pediatric endocrinologist for Kaiser Permanente
by Colleen Snyder
Colleen Snyder: When a pediatric patient presents with a brain tumor, what does that trigger you to monitor and what concerns does a brain tumor in a child raise from an endocrine standpoint? Dr. Michele Christie, M.D.: From an endocrine standpoint, a child with a brain tumor or who has…
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Late Effects and Other Information
Surgery and Radiation Therapy for Craniopharyngioma
by Ori Shokek, M.D. and Moody D. Wharam, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.R
Craniopharyngioma is a brain tumor that occurs in children. It is seen in the suprasellar region of the brain, a centrally located area adjacent to of critical structures including the nerves that conduct visual signal from the eyes to the brain, the ventricular system which governs the flow and…
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Treatments - Therapy - Research
Proton Therapy: A Treatment Option for Children with Brain Tumors
by Hillary Bennett and Catherine M. Mannix, RN, BSN, OCN
The diagnosis of a brain tumor is never welcome news for anyone. But this type of cancer is especially problematic in children, as their developing nervous systems are particularly sensitive to the effects of radiation, a major form of treatment for brain and other solid pediatric tumors.
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Treatments - Therapy - Research
Advances in Surgical Technique for Childhood Brain Tumors
by Michael Medlock, MD FAAP, Georgetown Children's Medical Center
Introduction I will divide advances in surgical technique over the past several decades into 4 major categories: greater visual magnification, improved aids to navigation, better functional brain mapping, and more precise tumor destruction. Magnification The operating neurosurgical microscope has been used since the 1950's when Dr. RMP Donaghy of the…
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Treatments - Therapy - Research