Newly Diagnosed

Each Child is Different

Treating different types of pediatric brain tumors and preventing them from coming back involves different kinds of treatment.  The main tools they use are surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapy.

For some children, doctors use only one of these tools. For others, they use two or three. It all depends on the kind of brain tumor your child has, where the tumor is located, and how old your child is.

Doctors also want to treat tumors without causing harmful side effects. Your child’s doctor may recommend trying a treatment that targets tiny changes they find in the cells of your child’s tumor. These targeted therapies are sometimes called “molecularly targeted drugs,” “molecularly targeted therapies” or “precision medicine.”

Learn more about the most common types of pediatric brain tumor treatments:

• Surgery
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation
• Targeted Therapies

Observation

Before treating a child’s brain tumor, a doctor may choose to wait and monitor the child’s symptoms and tumor. This is called observation.

Some tumors can remain stable with no treatment needed for years. Doctors will use MRIs to regularly monitor a child’s tumor and recommend if and when treatment is needed.