MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital offers comprehensive diagnoses, treatment and evaluation services for pediatric brain and spinal tumors. Our expert team includes a pediatric neurosurgeon.
What are pediatric brain and spinal tumors?
Like adults, children can sometimes develop:
- Malignant tumors: cancerous tumors that tend to develop quickly
- Primary tumors begin in the brain or central nervous system.
- Metastatic tumors start in another part of the body and travel to the brain or nervous system.
- Benign tumors: non-cancerous tumors that usually stay in one spot and develop slowly.
Brain tumor symptoms in children
Brain tumors in children cause symptoms by directly compressing a part of the brain or by blocking the flow of cerebral spinal fluid, increasing the pressure in the brain. Some physical symptoms are:
- Headache
- Mood changes
- Activity changes
- Nausea or vomiting
- Depression
- Drowsiness
- Vision problems
- Balance problems
- Seizures
Spinal cord tumors in children
These are tumors that develop on the child’s spinal cord or near it. They usually grow slowly over a period of time, and symptoms develop as the tumor grows. The symptoms vary from child to child, but may consist of:
- Chronic neck and back pain
- Unexplained pains in various parts of the body
- Neurological problems
- Sensory impairment
- Problems with motor skills
- Uncontrolled bowel or bladder function
- Loss of muscle and possibly paralysis
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Tumors that occur in the brain and spine
There are different kinds of cancerous tumors, depending on which type of cells are growing out of control. Here are a few that occur in the brain and spine:
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Astrocytomas: Caused by cancerous brain cells called astrocytes and may spread throughout the brain
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Craniopharyngiomas: Caused by cells in the pituitary gland
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Ependymomas: Caused by cells that keep cerebrospinal fluid healthy and moving
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Medulloblastomas: located in the cerebellum from cancerous cells in the central nervous system
Screening and evaluation
An evaluation may include an MRI of the brain or spinal cord to look for a tumor. An MRI is a magnetic resonance imaging machine that lets doctors see more detail than from an X-ray or ultrasound. This is done by using magnetic fields and radio waves.
Early intervention is key
If the MRI shows a tumor, a neurosurgeon, pediatric oncologist (cancer specialist), radiation oncologist, and others may be recruited to form the child’s treatment plan. Treatment can be any combination of the following methods:
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Surgery: a neurosurgeon cuts the tumor out of the child’s brain or spinal region
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Radiation: a radiation oncologist applies a dose of high-energy electromagnetic light waves to the tumor
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Chemotherapy: drugs are used to target a specific kind of cancer, usually only if it is aggressive
Treatment is most effective when the tumor or tumors are diagnosed early.
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