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Health Dictionary

Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.

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Ependymoma medical therapy

Introduction

Overview

Overview

The predominant therapy for ependymoma is surgical resection. Adjunctive chemoradiation may be required.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy

  • There is no evidence to date that adjuvant chemotherapy, including the use of myeloablative chemotherapy, improves the outcome for patients with totally resected, nondisseminated ependymoma.[1]
  • Current treatment approaches do not include chemotherapy as a standard component of primary therapy for children with newly diagnosed ependymomas that are completely resected.
  • Etoposide may be used in recurrent cases.
Radiation Therapy

Radiation Therapy

  • Radiation therapy consisting of 54 gray to 55.8 gray is recommended for children aged 3 years and older who are diagnosed with well-differentiated ependymomas.[2]
  • It is not necessary to treat the entire CNS (whole brain and spine) because these tumors usually recur initially at the local site.
  • When possible, patients should be treated in a center experienced with the delivery of highly conformal radiation therapy (including intensity-modulated radiation therapy or charged-particle radiation therapy) to pediatric patients with brain tumors.
References

References

  1. ↑ Zacharoulis S, Levy A, Chi SN, Gardner S, Rosenblum M, Miller DC; et al. (2007). “Outcome for young children newly diagnosed with ependymoma, treated with intensive induction chemotherapy followed by myeloablative chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue”. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 49 (1): 34–40. doi:10.1002/pbc.20935. PMID 16874765.
  2. ↑ Ependymoma treatment. http://www.cancer.gov/types/brain/hp/child-ependymoma-treatment-pdq#section/_48 URL Accessed on 10/13/2015.

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Ahmad Al Maradni, M.D. [2]