Children with low-grade brain tumors have an increased survival rate when treated with either aggressive surgery that completely removes the tumor or less than total resection coupled with radiation therapy (RT), according to a Mayo Clinic study presented at the recent NeuroOncology meeting in Montreal.
For children who are not candidates for full resection, adding radiation therapy to a less complete surgery provides patients with the same outcomes as full removal, according to researchers from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. When results were compared to previous studies, the investigators found that more children are now candidates to have tumors completely removed due to improvements in neurosurgical techniques and imaging used to guide surgical procedures.
The researchers identified 127 consecutive pediatric patients with World Health Organization grade I and grade II gliomas treated at Mayo Clinic between 1990 and 2005. Of that group, 90 had total removal of their tumors and 20 had subtotal resections with added radiation therapy. At the 10-year post-treatment mark, more than 89% of the patients continued to survive.
Even if total resection is impossible, the addition of radiation therapy reduced the chance of tumor progression to yield the same outcome as if a complete resection had occurred, the researchers concluded.
Related Reading
Radiation therapy has good outcomes for pediatric glioma patients, November 2, 2009
Cognitive defects seen with radiotherapy for low-grade glioma, August 11, 2009
Quality of life impaired for children with brain tumors, September 15, 2009
Brain cancer takes long-term toll on children, August 22, 2005
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