Patients whose tumors have re-occurred may be eligible for Phase II protocols in which promising new drugs are tested for effectiveness. In Phase I, newly developed experimental agents are administered to patients whose tumors have proven to be unmanageable by other treatments. Agents that prove to be useful can be added to the currently established list of drugs for cancer treatment. Patients enrolled on these trials are cared for at Primary Children's Medical Center, a large tertiary care children's hospital. These trials are coordinated through the Children's Cancer Specialty Clinics at Primary Children's Medical Center.
Brain tumors represent the second most common pediatric tumor.
However, despite the slower growth potential of many of these tumors, they remain unmanageable by the type of therapy that has been so successful in treating other tumors in children. Physicians are piloting a new approach for treating progressive gliomas and newly diagnosed ependymomas. The treatment is based on a drug delivery sequence that exposes the tumor to active medications for a longer period of time and prevents tumor cells from repairing the effects of the drugs. High Dose Chemotherapy Followed By Stem Cell Rescue for Metastatic Neuroblastoma and Sarcomas. Patients with neuroblastoma and sarcoma, common solid tumors in children, have benefited substantially from advances in chemotherapy.