Medical News Today describes a study of a treatment of childhood brain cancer that has significantly increased the rate of survival of children with the disease. Excerpts below.
A team of investigators led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has announced that improvements in the treatment of the childhood brain cancer medulloblastoma have significantly increased the rate of survival of children with this disease.
The treatment increased the overall five-year survival for 86 children with average-risk medulloblastoma from the current rate of 70 percent to 85 percent; and raised the rate of survival among the 48 high-risk patients from 55 percent to 70 percent. Patients are considered to be at average risk of treatment failure if their cancer has not spread following initial surgery to remove the tumor, or if the remaining tumor is very small. Patients are considered at high risk of failure if their tumor has spread following surgery or if the remaining tumors are larger than those of low-risk patients.
A report on these results appeared in the September 7 issue of Lancet Oncology.The results of the current clinical trial, SJMB96, are especially significant because they represent a dramatic change from the 45 percent survival rate achieved two decades ago using just surgery and irradiation, according to Gajjar. The subsequent addition of chemotherapy before or after radiotherapy improved that survival rate to 65 percent for children aged 3 years or older who had medulloblastoma.
This work was supported in part by a Cancer Center (CORE) Support Grant from the National Institutes of Health, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, the Noyes Foundation and ALSAC.
