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Children's Health Children's Diseases and Conditions

Treating Brain Tumors in Children: What Are the Options?

Summary & Participants

Cancers of all kinds are frightening illnesses, and the idea of a brain tumor seems especially threatening. So when parents face the news that their child has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, the impact can be tremendous. Fortunately, many pediatric brain tumors can be completely cured with modern surgical techniques and other treatments. Join our panel of experts as they discuss the current options from surgery to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Medically Reviewed On: May 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Welcome to our webcast. I'm Marty Moss-Coane. Cancers of all kinds are frightening illnesses and the idea of a brain tumor seems especially threatening. So when parents face the news that their child has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, the impact can be tremendous. Fortunately, many pediatric brain tumors can be completely cured with modern surgical techniques and other treatments.

Joining us today to discuss the different options are two experts and let me introduce them to you. Dr. Fred Epstein is founding director of the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Welcome, Dr. Epstein.

FRED J. EPSTEIN, MD: Thank you.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: And Dr. George Jallo is an attending pediatric neurosurgeon at the same Institute. Dr. Jallo, nice to have you here with us as well.

Dr. Epstein, let me begin with you. How do you approach parents if surgery is the option? How do you speak to this issue to them?

FRED J. EPSTEIN, MD: You know, I think the first thing is for parents to understand that you truly care and that we're all human beings that want the same thing for our children. The next thing you have to do is you have to be honest, families have to understand what's involved in surgery, what the hazards are, what it's going to be like afterwards. And make as complete an explanation as possible.

One of the things that I think is critical is no matter what you say, it has to be presented in a way that a family can survive with it. There are different ways of doing that. Honest? Yes. People have to know. And look, thank goodness, most of these tumors are benign and curable.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Let me turn to you because I know there are extraordinary options really. When a child has a brain tumor, what are some of those surgical options that they have?

GEORGE JALLO, MD: The options for a brain tumor is to take it out as safely as possible. And the technology that we have today makes it -- makes us able to do craniotomies that we wouldn't do years ago.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: And describe for us then, what you do? And I have a feeling this is pretty cutting-edge stuff.

GEORGE JALLO, MD: The technology that we have now -- we have image guidance. What that allows us to do is do an MRI the morning of surgery and when we bring the child to the operating room we're able to guide the craniotomy flap, the skin incision and guide us through the brain to any tumor wherever it may be located near vital structures, like optic nerves, big blood vessels or the brain stem -- and get there safely and be able to remove the whole tumor as safe as possible.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: So you're working with a computer though?

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