Chemotherapy for medulloblastoma in adults – pro
Medulloblastoma is treated primarily with surgical excision followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. When there is spinal extension, craniospinal radiation is standard.
Inoperable medulloblastomas are often treated iwth chemotherapy but there is no randomized prospective evidence to support this. This is especially so in adults, in whom this disease is much less common and in whom it appears to behave distinctly differently. 30% of cases occur in adults. Recent therapeutic advances in the treatment of average-risk childhood medulloblastoma have emphasized the reduction of treatment-related toxicity while improving progression-free survival and high dose therapy. However, lessons learned from the pediatric experience have not been widely applied to the adult population in Phase II or randomized clinical trials.
nccn.org, brain cancer
David D Eisenstat Clinical management of medulloblastoma in adults
Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy October 2004, Vol. 4, No. 5, Pages 795-802
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/HPI/CancerManagementGuidelines/NeuroOncology