For example, treatment of Medulloblastoma, Ependymoma, and High Grade Astrocytomas is now very aggressive and requires peripheral blood stem cell support. Ms. McGuire-Cullen reviewed the newest studies and gave tips on nursing interventions to decrease common side effects. A radiation oncologist from New York University Medical Center, Bernadine Donahue, M.D., presented new developments in radiation therapy. Goals of radiation therapy are to improve cure rates, eliminate or reduce radiation where feasible, safely delay radiation in young children, modify radiation techniques and delivery methods, and to improve supportive care. Radiation delivery has improved with newer immobilization devices, which provide greater patient comfort and increased cooperation.
General anesthesia is utilized routinely for young children.
Radiation techniques including hyperfractionization, radiation implants, 3-dimensional conformal treatment, and the use of radiosurgery have improved outcomes for a wide variety of pediatric central nervous system tumors. The efficacy and long term effects of this technique are still unknown. Brachytherapy, or the use of radiation implants, is still limited in pediatrics. While adult studies have shown benefit in gliomas, pediatric trials using brachytherapy are under development. 3-D conformal radiation therapy which uses CT or MRI to locate tumor and normal structures and allow multiple fields shows the area to be treated in three dimensions.