Childhood Ependymoma Treatment (PDQ®)

The brain controls vital functions such as memory and learning, the senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch), and emotion. The spinal cord is made up of bundles of nerve fibers that connect the brain with nerves in most parts of the body.

About 1 in 11 childhood brain tumors are ependymomas. Although cancer is rare in children, brain tumors are the most common type of childhood cancer other than leukemia and lymphoma.

This summary refers to the treatment of primary brain tumors (tumors that begin in the brain). Treatment of metastatic brain tumors, which are tumors formed by cancer cells that begin in other parts of the body and spread to the brain, is not discussed in this summary.

There are many different types of brain tumors. Brain tumors can occur in both children and adults; however, treatment for children may be different than treatment for adults. Refer to the following PDQ summaries for more information:

These symptoms may be caused by childhood ependymoma or other conditions. A doctor should be consulted if any of the following problems occur:

The following tests and procedures may be used:

If a brain tumor is suspected, a biopsy is done by removing part of the skull and using a needle to remove a sample of the brain tissue. A pathologist views the tissue under a microscope to look for cancer cells. If cancer cells are found, the doctor will remove as much tumor as safely possible during the same surgery.

The prognosis (chance of recovery) depends on:

After the childhood ependymoma has been removed, tests are done to find out if there is tumor remaining. The extent or spread of cancer is usually described as stages. For childhood ependymoma, tumors are described by grade and by where they are located in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). The grade of the tumor refers to how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly the tumor is likely to grow and spread. It is important to know the grade of the tumor and if there were any cancer cells remaining after surgery in order to plan treatment. The following tests and procedures may be used:

Recurrent childhood ependymoma is a tumor that has recurred (come back) after it has been treated. Childhood ependymoma commonly recurs, usually at the original cancer site. The tumor may come back as long as 15 years or more after initial treatment.

Different types of treatment are available for children with ependymoma. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment.

Because cancer in children is rare, taking part in a clinical trial should be considered. Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site. Choosing the most appropriate cancer treatment is a decision that ideally involves the patient, family, and health care team.

Your child’s treatment will be overseen by a pediatric oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating children with cancer. The pediatric oncologist may refer you to other pediatric doctors who have experience and expertise in treating children with brain tumors and who specialize in certain areas of medicine. These may include the following specialists:

Some cancer treatments cause side effects that continue or appear years after cancer treatment has ended. These are called late effects. Late effects of cancer treatment may include physical problems; changes in mood, feelings, thinking, learning or memory; and having second cancers (new types of cancer). Some late effects may be treated or controlled. It is important to talk with your child's doctors about the possible late effects caused by some treatments. Refer to the PDQ summary on Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information.

Surgery is used to diagnose and treat childhood ependymoma as described in the General Information section of this summary.

Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer. Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer. The way the radiation therapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.

Certain ways of giving radiation therapy can help keep radiation away from healthy tissue:

Radiation therapy to the brain can affect growth and development in young children and is not standard treatment for children younger than 3 years. For this reason, conformal radiation therapy that limits damage to healthy brain tissue is being studied in infants and children with ependymoma.

Damage to the brain in young children treated for ependymoma is not always due to the effects of radiation therapy. For example, when hydrocephalus (abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain) is found at diagnosis, it is linked with lower intelligence test scores following surgery and before radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping the cells from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly into the spinal column, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas (regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.

Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Newly diagnosed childhood ependymoma is a tumor that has not been treated. The patient may have received drugs or treatment, however, to relieve symptoms caused by the tumor.

Initial treatment for newly diagnosed childhood ependymoma is usually surgery, with or without additional treatment.

After surgery, treatment depends on the age of the child, the amount of tumor that was removed, and whether cancer cells have spread to other parts of the central nervous system.

When the tumor is completely removed by surgery and cancer cells have not spread within the central nervous system, treatment may include the following:

When a part of the tumor remains after surgery, but cancer cells have not spread within the central nervous system, treatment may include the following:

When cancer cells have spread within the central nervous system, treatment may include the following:

This summary section refers to specific treatments under study in clinical trials, but it may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about these and other ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with newly diagnosed childhood ependymoma.

Standard treatment of recurrent childhood ependymomas may include the following:

New treatments for recurrent childhood ependymomas are being studied in clinical trials. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with recurrent childhood ependymoma.

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The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Changes were made to this summary to match those made to the health professional version.

PDQ is a comprehensive cancer database available on NCI's Web site.

PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.

PDQ contains cancer information summaries.

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PDQ also contains information on clinical trials.

A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one treatment is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During treatment clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new treatment and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard." In the United States, about two-thirds of children with cancer are treated in a clinical trial at some point in their illness.

Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at NCI's Web site. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. For additional help in locating a childhood cancer clinical trial, call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.

The PDQ database contains listings of groups specializing in clinical trials.

The Children's Oncology Group (COG) is the major group that organizes clinical trials for childhood cancers in the United States. Information about contacting COG is available on the NCI Web site or from the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.

The PDQ database contains listings of cancer health professionals and hospitals with cancer programs.

Because cancer in children and adolescents is rare, the majority of children with cancer are treated by health professionals specializing in childhood cancers, at hospitals or cancer centers with special facilities to treat them. The PDQ database contains listings of health professionals who specialize in childhood cancer and listings of hospitals with cancer programs. For help locating childhood cancer health professionals or a hospital with cancer programs, call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.