Treatment of Early Childhood Medulloblastoma by Postoperative Chemotherapy Alone

Medulloblastoma in young children has a poor prognosis. Furthermore, cognitive function in survivors is often impaired owing to treatment with cranial radiotherapy. This study obtained promising results in children undergoing intensive chemotherapy alone. For years there has been little progress in the treatment of medulloblastoma, the commonest tumor of the central nervous system in children. This study obtained promising results in children undergoing intensive chemotherapy alone. Twenty-five to 35 percent of cases of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood, occur in children younger than three years of age. 1 In contrast to the prognosis for older children, the prognosis for infants and young children treated with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy remains poor: survival rates have been static for two decades. 2 The lack of progress relates not only to the frequent occurrence of metastases at diagnosis but also to the biology of medulloblastoma in young children. 3 – 5 In addition, the susceptibility of the immature brain to radiotherapy-induced cognitive deficits, 6 – 8 which increase for years after . . .