Treatment Options for Childhood Craniopharyngioma

Newly Diagnosed Childhood Craniopharyngioma
Recurrent Childhood Craniopharyngioma

A link to a list of current clinical trials is included for this treatment section. Check with your doctor for clinical trials that are not listed here but may be right for you.

Treatment of newly diagnosed childhood craniopharyngioma may include the following:

• Surgery.
• Cyst drainage followed by surgery.
• Limited surgery followed by external-beam radiation therapy.
• Stereotactic radiosurgery.
• Intensity-modulated proton therapy.
• Intracavitary radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy or biologic therapy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood craniopharyngioma. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Craniopharyngioma may recur (come back) no matter how it was treated the first time. Treatment options for recurrent childhood craniopharyngioma are based mainly on what type of treatment was given before and the needs of the individual child. Treatment options may include:

• Repeat surgery.
• External-beam radiation therapy.
• Stereotactic radiosurgery.
• Intracavitary radiation therapy.
• Intracavitary chemotherapy or biologic therapy.
• Cyst drainage with or without surgery.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood craniopharyngioma. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.