Pineoblastoma is a rare malignant tumor of the central nervous system (CNS), which arises from the parenchyma of the pineal gland. It is characterized by aggressive clinical behavior and frequent metastases along the craniospinal axis. Extraneural metastases may occur due to surgical seeding of tumor cells beyond the dura and/or hematogenous spread, ventriculoperitoneal shunting, or through Bat...

The aim of this study was to describe early and late toxicity, survival and local control in 45 patients with primary brain tumors treated with helical tomotherapy craniospinal irradiation (HT-CSI). From 2006 to 2014, 45 patients with central nervous system malignancies were treated with HT-CSI. The most common tumors were medulloblastoma in 20 patients, ependymoma in 10 patients, intracranial ...

BACKGROUND As the number of proton therapy centers increases, so does the need for studies which compare proton treatments between institutions and with photon therapy. However, results of such studies are highly dependent on target volume definition and treatment planning techniques. Thus, standardized methods of treatment planning are needed, particularly for proton treatment planning, in whi...

We have studied the long-term endocrine effects of treatment on 144 children treated for brain tumours. All received cranial irradiation, 86 also received spinal irradiation and 34 chemotherapy. Almost all patients (140 of 144) had evidence of growth hormone insufficiency. Treatment with growth hormone was effective in maintaining normal growth but could not restore a deficit incurred by delay ...

Intracranial germ cell tumors (ICGCT) occur in 2-11% of children with brain tumors between 0-19 years of age. For treatment of germinoma, relatively low radiation doses with or without chemotherapy show excellent 10 year survival rate of 80-100%. Past studies showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with focal radiotherapy resulted in unacceptably high rates of periventricular tumor recurr...

BACKGROUND We conducted a nonrandomized international study for intracranial germinoma that compared chemotherapy followed by local radiotherapy with reduced-dose craniospinal irradiation (CSI) alone, to determine whether the combined treatment regimen produced equivalent outcome and avoided irradiation beyond the primary tumor site(s). METHODS Patients with localized germinoma received eithe...