If a biopsy specimen is taken, the tumor cells will be examined carefully under a microscope to see how they look compared to normal cells. This will determine the grade of the tumor. The child's doctor needs to know the type and grade of tumor in order to plan treatment. There is no staging for childhood cerebral astrocytoma. The type of treatment given depends on the grade of the tumor, its location, and whether or not your child has received previous treatment.
Treatment depends on whether all of the cancer can be removed during surgery.
If the cancer can be removed during surgery, there may be no more treatment needed. If there is cancer left after surgery, radiation therapy may be given, or the doctor may wait until the cancer has started to grow again before giving radiation therapy. Chemotherapy is being studied for the treatement of some groups of children, including those younger than 5 years of age. Treatment will probably be surgery followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Clinical trials are evaluating surgery followed by chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy.