2024 Volume 61 Issue 2 Pages 154-158
All pediatric brain tumors are orphan diseases. As each clinician has limited experience, treatment disparities can exist for pediatric brain tumors, thus emphasizing the importance for clinicians to share information and experience in these cases.
In our institution, we have weekly meetings of the Cancer Board for Pediatric Brain Tumors to enable seamless treatment cooperation among neurosurgeons, pediatric oncologists, radiation oncologists, and other related doctors and healthcare staff. We present conditions of the patients receiving treatment, discuss treatment strategies, and adjust treatment schedules. Treatment efficacy and adverse events are objectively evaluated, leading to the provision of appropriate and expeditious treatment.
Since 2013, 161 patients aged <20 years with brain tumors have been treated; 150 cases were treated at disease onset: 28 low-grade gliomas, 22 high-grade gliomas, nine ependymomas, 27 germ cell tumors, and 21 embryonal tumors such as medulloblastomas. Overall, 128 patients underwent surgery and 70 underwent radiotherapy, mainly proton beam therapy, as primary treatment. In addition to cases of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, nine (six germ cell tumors and three low-grade gliomas) were diagnosed during this meeting and received adjuvant therapy without histological confirmation by agreement. Since some patients required salvage resection for residual lesions after adjuvant therapy, the indications and timing of surgery were determined during this meeting. We usually discuss individualized treatment approaches for each patient according to age or presumed sequelae. Regular weekly cancer board meetings play a key role in treating pediatric brain tumors through multidisciplinary collaborations.
