Radiation therapy for pediatric brain tumors

Do Hoon Lim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2012.55.5.447

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Lim: Radiation therapy for pediatric brain tumors

Focused Issue of This Month

Pediatric Brain Tumors

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2012; 55(5): 447-453.

Published online: 16 May 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2012.55.5.447

Radiation therapy for pediatric brain tumors

Do Hoon Lim, MD

Department of Radiation Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Do Hoon Lim, dh8.lim@samsung.com

Received 6 March 2012 Accepted 20 March 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Pediatric brain tumors present a tremendous challenge to physicians due to their diverse biologic behavior and the developing nervous system. Therefore, flexible and tailored treatment plans are required. Radiation therapy has played an important role in pediatric brain tumors and treatment results have improved. However, to reduce late radiation effects, the modification of the radiation dose and volume with intensified chemotherapy or delay of radiotherapy is the concept of current protocols. With the results of many clinical trials, the understanding of radiation-induced neurotoxicity has progressed, and there have been technical advances in the field of radiotherapy such as image-guided radiation therapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy. To achieve disease control as well as functional outcomes for children with brain tumors, further studies using high precision radiotherapy combined with other modalities will be needed.

Keywords: Pediatrics, Brain neoplasms, Radiotherapy

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (no. 0520300).

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