Pediatric neuro-oncology: Current status and future directions

摘要: Tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) are most common solid malignancies in childhood and leading cause cancer-related death this age group. While an ongoing improvement overall prognosis has been achieved last few decades, current therapeutic approaches still confer significant morbidities, especially for very young. The traditional strategies surgery, radiotherapy conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy need to be further refined while newer approaches, including molecularly targeted agents, hold promise better responses, improved outcomes reduced toxicities. This article discusses treatment standards, focus clinical investigations future novel, biologically based pediatric CNS tumors: primitive neuroectodermal tumors medulloblastomas, ependymomas astrocytomas (both low-grade high-grade glioma).