Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) is a protein involved in single strand break repair. Recently, PARP inhibitors have shown considerable promise in the treatment of several cancers, both in monotherapy and in combination with cytotoxic agents. Synthetic lethal action of PARP inhibitors has been observed in tumors with mutations in double strand break repair pathways. In addition, PARP inhibitio...

Medulloblastoma is a cerebellar tumor and the most common pediatric brain malignancy. Radiotherapy is part of the standard care for this tumor, but its effectiveness is accompanied by significant neurocognitive sequelae due to the deleterious effects of radiation on the developing brain. We have previously shown that the protein kinase MRK/ZAK protects tumor cells from radiation-induced cell de...

CONTEXT Aggressive treatment of medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain tumor, has not improved survival. Identifying better prognostic indicators may warrant less morbid therapy. OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of sex on outcome of medulloblastoma. DESIGN Retrospective study of significant factors for survival with a median follow-up of 82 months. SETTING University medical ce...

The present study investigated the relationship between posterior fossa tumors (astrocytoma and medulloblastoma) and their respective treatments and cognitive performance in Brazilian children by measuring Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Twenty children were enrolled in the study, of whom 13 were diagnosed with astrocytoma (average age at evaluation, 10.2 years; eight girls and five boys) and seven...

BACKGROUND We investigated how varying the treatment margin and applying hippocampal sparing and proton therapy impact the risk of neurocognitive impairment in pediatric medulloblastoma patients compared with current standard 3D conformal radiotherapy. METHODS We included 17 pediatric medulloblastoma patients to represent the variability in tumor location relative to the hippocampal region. T...

Background and Objective: Medulloblastoma is the commonest tumor in children in infratentorial location that is highly malignant, fast growing neoplasm with varying degrees of histological variations. Normally the surgical resection is the common treatment followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. MRI can be used as primary imaging technique in such patients prior to surgery, during the follow...

BACKGROUND Very young children with Gorlin syndrome are at risk for developing medulloblastoma. Patients with Gorlin syndrome may have multiple system abnormalities, including basal cell carcinomas, jaw cysts, desmoplastic medulloblastoma, palmar/plantar pits, rib abnormalities, and intracranial falx calcification. The early diagnosis of Gorlin syndrome in desmoplastic medulloblastoma patients ...

Dear Editor, We read with some disquiet the article published by your journal entitled “Epidemiology, Management and Treatment Outcome of Medulloblastoma in Singapore” by Chan et al.1 It succinctly reviewed the 39 paediatric patients with medulloblastoma seen over a 9-year period in Singapore, and made 2 statements: 1. The clinical outcomes seen “were inferior to reported outcomes in establishe...

PURPOSE Concerns about radiotherapy-related neurocognitive sequelae in young children have led to deferral or avoidance of radiation in contemporary treatment for this fragile group of patients. We compared survival and neurocognitive outcome in two groups of infants with medulloblastoma who received adjuvant conventional craniospinal irradiation (CSI) or reduced or no radiotherapy during an er...

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Therapeutic approaches to medulloblastoma (combination of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) have led to significant improvements, but these are achieved at a high cost to quality of life. Alternative therapeutic approaches are needed. Genetic mutations leading to the activation of the Hedgehog pathway drive tumorigenes...