Treatment of primary glial neoplasms of the spinal cord in children: Twenty years of experience from the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Abstract

Primary glial neoplasms of the spinal cord are extremely uncommon, accounting for 4% of CNS tumors of childhood. Given their rarity, only a handful of small retrospective analyses have been published. These series, with very few exceptions, include both adult and pediatric patients, whose tumors can have different clinical behavior, and certainly present different treatment challenges to the treating oncologists. Here, we present a series of 29 pediatric patients treated at CHOP, including outcomes-based data on chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic management.