Phase II Study of Pre-irradiation Chemotherapy For Childhood Intracranial Ependymoma
— Categories: Ependymoma Research Articles Posted on August 21, 2012
Achieving a complete removal of the tumor before using radiation is a key factor in controlling the disease in patients with ependymoma. However, due to the tumor’s nature and location, it is difficult to achieve a complete removal of the tumor during the initial surgery without damaging the cranial nerves and surrounding brain tissue.
In this article, of all the patients with less than complete removal of the tumor at the time of the initial surgery treated with chemotherapy – 57% of the tumors had either complete or partial response to chemotherapy. This demonstrates that ependymoma is a tumor that responds to chemotherapy. In addition, approximately 55% of patients with over 90% of the tumor removed either at initial or second surgery had durable disease control.