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Pediatric brainstem glioma Q&A

Hola

"glioma” What does that mean?

The ``gli'' in ``glioma'' refers to glial cells. These are called glial cells, which are cells that help the functions of nerve cells. "Oma" means tumor. In other words, it is called a glioma, meaning a tumor formed in neuroglial cells.

Q1

of this diseasewhat is the causeIs it?

The cause of childhood brainstem glioma is currently unknown.

It is possible to hypothesize that during a child's growth process, for some reason, a genetic mutation occurs, which interferes with the natural immune function and allows cancer cells to proliferate, but what is the cause? It is not yet clear whether this is due to

Q2

Q3

all brain tumorscannot be treatedIs it?

That's not what it means. The types of tumor tissues associated with pediatric brain tumors are extremely diverse, and there are said to be as many as 100 types if they are classified in detail. Typical tumor tissues include astrocytic tumors, medulloblastomas, embryomas, craniopharyngeal tumors, ependymoma, and glioblastomas, but pediatric brainstem gliomas are astrocytic tumors. ” belongs to.

This does not mean that all of these, including astrocytic tumors, cannot be treated.

First, the basic treatment is surgical removal, but the cure rate varies depending on whether the tumor is easy to remove or not, and whether anticancer drugs are effective or not. It also varies depending on where it occurs. However, on average, it is said that around 60% of cases can be cured (survival for 5 years or more) due to improvements in medical technology. In contrast, childhood brainstem gliomas have a mortality rate of nearly 100%.

Q4

I heard that you have a brainstem glioma that can be operated on.

Tumors that form in the brain stem can also be removed if they occur on the surface.

This is called a ``focal brainstem glioma,'' and it is surgically possible because it has a boil-like shape. (See image)

What is “pediatric brainstem glioma” treated on this site?

Glue-like inside the pons of the brainstemIt becomes sticky and engulfs the nerves

This is a diffuse glioma that occurs.

It is also known as ``diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma''.

in this case,Removal without damaging nerves that are important for life activities

It is considered impossible to do so.

Q5

Pediatric brainstem glioma"Child"What is it?

This disease, ``brainstem glioma,'' can occur in adults, but the tumor tissue is different between adults and children, and anticancer drugs may be effective in adults. On the other hand, as a result of clinical trials around the world, the effectiveness of all existing anticancer drugs has been denied for "pediatric brainstem glioma."

Therefore, brainstem glioma in adults is a different disease from that in children.

the studyAre you wearing it?

Researchers around the world are currently investigating the causes and treatments for this disease. The bottleneck in research into this disease is that with normal cancers, tumor tissue is examined at the beginning of treatment, and the treatment is selected based on the results, but in the case of this disease, surgery inside the brainstem is necessary. To avoid high risks, so-called pathological tests have not generally been performed. Due to the lack of research samples, tumor tissue research has not progressed, but with recent improvements in diagnostic surgical technology and the ability to easily perform gene-level analysis that reads a lot of information from a small number of samples, research is progressing. is progressing at a rapid pace.

The latest research has identified mutations in the genes of specific documents, and progress is being made in the development of ``molecular-targeted drugs'' that target the mutated molecules.

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