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 …
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 University of Vermont was active …
by Loice Swisher, M.D., co-authored by Dr. Peter Philips New resources added at the end of this article. A child s loss of speech after removal of a cerebellar tumor was initially described in 1958 (Daly and Love 1958). Cerebellar mutism was first reported in 1979 by Hirsch after a posterior fossa tumor resection. In …
Barry M. Shmookler, MD The first crucial step in cancer management is to assure that the pathology diagnosis (the biopsy) is correct and accurate. What is the basis for this statement? A pathologist is the only physician who can make the actual diagnosis of cancer. He/she is a medical doctor with a specialty training in the …
Recent Developments Gilbert Vezina, M.D., Director of Neuroradiology – Children’s National Medical Center, Washington D.C. Imaging techniques to diagnose, stage, and follow patients with brain tumors are central to their clinical management. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most commonly utilized technique for lesion detection, definition of extent, detection of spread and in evaluation of …
Dr. Maya Lodish, pediatric endocrinologist National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD Survivors of childhood brain tumors are at an especially high risk for damage to the endocrine system. The endocrine system is comprised of glands and hormones that help to control specific functions of the body, such …
Eva Perdahl, MD, PhD, Children’s National-VA and David Wolf, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University Brain tumors are the most common solid tumor of childhood. Among brain tumors, low-grade gliomas are the most common type, accounting for almost 50% of all tumor types. There are two major types of cells that make up the brain: neurons …
Eric Raabe MD, PhD One of the goals of pediatric cancer treatment is deploying personalized medicine. Treating each patient and each tumor, with exactly the right type of therapy to maximize killing of tumor cells and minimize side effects to patients is the objective. Initially, brain tumors were classified by their appearance under the microscope. …
Medulloblastoma is the most common primary malignant central nervous system tumor arising in childhood. Survival rates for children with medulloblastomas have nearly doubled and so has the recognition that many survivors are impaired and new forms of treatment are needed. Its understanding and management represents both the progress and challenges involved in the treatment of …
