General comments about treatment
Children and teens with brain and spinal cord tumors and their families have special needs. These needs can be met best by cancer centers for children and teens, working closely with the child's primary care doctor. Treatment in these centers takes advantage of teams of specialists who know the differences between cancers in adults and those in children and teens, as well as the unique needs of younger people with cancer.
For childhood brain and spinal cord tumors, this team is often led by a pediatric neurosurgeon, a doctor who uses surgery to treat brain and nervous system tumors in children. Other doctors on the team may include:
- Pediatric neurologist: a doctor who treats brain and nervous system diseases in children
- Radiation oncologist: a doctor who uses radiation to treat cancer
- Pediatric oncologist: a doctor who uses chemotherapy and other medicines to treat children's cancers
- Endocrinologist: a doctor who treats diseases in glands that secrete hormones
Many other specialists may be involved in your child's care as well, including nurse practitioners, nurses, psychologists, social workers, rehabilitation specialists, and other health professionals.
Before treatment, the doctors and other members of the team will help you, as a parent, understand the tests that will need to be done. The team's social worker will also counsel you about the problems you and your child may have during and after surgery, and may be able to help you find housing and financial aid if needed.
Other team members, such as a psychologist and specialists in rehabilitation, may also see your child before treatment begins. For example, if the tumor is slow growing and your child's condition is stable, he or she may be seen by a psychologist before treatment to assess any damage the tumor may have caused. Most of the work of these specialists takes place after treatment.
The main treatments for children with central nervous system tumors are:
- Surgery
- Radiation therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Targeted therapy
- Other drug treatments
In many cases children will get some combination of these. Treatment is based on the type of tumor and other factors. Doctors plan each child's treatment individually to give them the best chance of cure. The possible long-term side effects of treatment are also considered.
The next few sections describe the various types of treatments used for brain tumors in children. This is followed by a description of the most common treatment approaches for these tumors based on the type of tumor.
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