Medulloblastoma is a brain tumor that usually occurs in children between the ages of three and eight. It accounts for 20 percent of all brain tumors in children. Treatment for medulloblastoma can involve surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
In a study published in the Lancet Oncology, the treatment of risk-adapted radiation and a shortened course of high-dose chemotherapy may improve outcomes in children with high-risk tumors. Risk-adapted radiation means that the dose of the radiation was adapted to the risk status of the child. Children with a high risk medulloblastoma received a higher dose of radiation where children with an average risk medulloblastoma received a lower dose. Children with high risk medulloblastoma are defined as cancer that has spread within the brain or spinal cord.
The study included 134 children between the ages of three and twenty one. After five years the overall survival was 85 percent in children with average risk disease and 70 percent in children with high risk disease.
The researchers concluded from this study that risk-adapted radiation therapy and a shortened course of high-dose chemotherapy may improve outcomes in children with high risk medulloblastoma.
