Pediatric Brain Tumors

Treatment

Mayo Clinic is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center, giving your child access to new developments and treatments for brain tumors.

Your child may see several Mayo Clinic specialists from the brain tumor treatment team who work together to provide the high-quality care for which Mayo Clinic is known. Generally, a neurologist who has expertise and additional training in neuro-oncology will serve as the team coordinator.

Treatment and chance of recovery (prognosis) depend on the tumor type, its location within the brain, if it has spread, and your child's age and general health. Because new treatments and technologies continually develop, several options may be available at different points in treatment. Treatment is tailored to the individual needs of your child and your family.

Treatment options

Three kinds of treatment are used, either alone or in combination.

• Surgery. Surgery removes all or part of the tumor while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. For some tumors, just a small piece of tissue is removed for testing (biopsy). Mayo Clinic's expertise in computer-assisted brain surgery allows neurosurgeons to precisely locate tumors and remove them using the safest and least invasive route possible. Brain mapping techniques, intraoperative MRI and awake brain surgery help surgeons operate without injuring critical areas of the brain.
• Radiation. Radiation uses high-energy X-rays to destroy tumor cells and is often used after chemotherapy to treat tumors when surgery isn't possible. One intriguing new brain tumor treatment involves a radiation procedure called gamma-knife surgery, one type of stereotactic radiosurgery.
• Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs may be taken by mouth or injected into a vein (intravenous) or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body and can kill cancer cells throughout the body.

Read more about brain tumors at MayoClinic.com.