Pilocytic astrocytoma Care at Mayo Clinic
Pilocytic astrocytoma care at Mayo Clinic
At Mayo Clinic, specialists within the Brain Tumor Program work together to provide comprehensive care for people with pilocytic astrocytomas and other types of glioma. Your care team might include neuro-oncologists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists and radiologists. This means that you're not getting just one opinion. You benefit from the knowledge and experience of each specialist.
Close collaboration enables the team to have your test results available quickly and to coordinate scheduling your appointments. Evaluation and treatment that might take months elsewhere can typically be done in only a matter of days at Mayo Clinic.
Advanced diagnosis and treatment
People who seek care at Mayo Clinic have access to the most advanced imaging and diagnostic tools available. There's a long history of Mayo Clinic scientists developing those cutting-edge technologies for patient care.
Mayo Clinic neuropathologists are skilled in analyzing brain tumor tissue in the lab to make an accurate diagnosis. They analyze many tissue samples every year and have access to the latest in lab technology. Neuropathologists at Mayo Clinic have experience in diagnosing all types of brain tumors, including very rare types. Getting an accurate diagnosis helps your healthcare team create the most effective treatment plan for you.
Expertise and rankings
Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center meets strict standards for a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center. These standards recognize scientific excellence and a multispecialty approach focused on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Mayo Clinic is part of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. This group of scientists throughout the U.S. and Canada works together to conduct clinical trials and reduce the impact of cancer.
- Experience. The Brain Tumor Program brings together many specialists to provide comprehensive care for people with brain tumors. Mayo Clinic brain tumor specialists care for more than 3,000 adults and children with glioma brain tumors every year.
- Skill. If surgery is the most appropriate treatment, you want to be in the hands of skilled surgeons who perform these operations frequently. Mayo Clinic neurosurgeons perform hundreds of brain tumor surgeries each year. They use the latest technological advances available to them, including computer-assisted brain surgery, intraoperative MRI, awake brain surgery and lasers.
- Leadership. With the goal of seeking new knowledge and improving the reliability, comfort and cost of care, Mayo Clinic doctors continually study new diagnostic and treatment options through clinical trials. At Mayo Clinic, scientists and medical researchers are investigating the causes of gliomas and other brain tumors and are aggressively developing new treatments.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, ranks among the Best Hospitals for neurology and neurosurgery and for cancer in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Mayo Clinic Children's in Rochester is ranked the No. 1 hospital in Minnesota and the five-state region of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2025–2026 "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings. With the emphasis on collaborative care, specialists interact very closely with their colleagues across all sites.
Locations, travel and lodging
Mayo Clinic has major campuses in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic Health System has dozens of locations in several states.
For more information on visiting Mayo Clinic, choose your location below:
Costs and insurance
Mayo Clinic works with hundreds of insurance companies and is an in-network provider for millions of people.
In most cases, Mayo Clinic doesn't require a physician referral. Some insurers require referrals or may have additional requirements for certain medical care. All appointments are prioritized on the basis of medical need.
Learn more about appointments at Mayo Clinic.
Please contact your insurance company to verify medical coverage and to obtain any needed authorization prior to your visit. Often, your insurer's customer service number is printed on the back of your insurance card.
More information about billing and insurance:
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