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The mainstay of treatment is surgical excision. Two adjuvant therapeutic strategies are Stereotactic surgery (SRS) and fractionated convention radiotherapy (FCRT). Both are highly effective means of treatment.
The majority of patients can be expected to be cured of their disease and become long-term survivors of central neurocytoma. As with any other type of tumor, there is a chance for recurrence. The chance of recurrence is approximately 20%. Some factors that predict tumor recurrence and death due to progressive states of disease are high proliferative indices, early disease recurrence, and disseminated disease with or without the spread of disease through the cerebral spinal fluid. Long-term follow up examinations are essential for the evaluation of the outcomes that each treatment brings about. It is also essential to identify possible recurrence of CN. It is recommended that a cranial MRI is performed between every 6–12 months.
Some benign tumors need no treatment; others may be removed if they cause problems such as seizures, discomfort or cosmetic concerns. Surgery is usually the most effective approach and is used to treat most benign tumors. In some case other treatments may be of use. Adenomas of the rectum may be treated with sclerotherapy, a treatment in which chemicals are used to shrink blood vessels in order to cut off the blood supply. Most benign tumors do not respond to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, although there are exceptions; benign intercranial tumors are sometimes treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy under certain circumstances. Radiation can also be used to treat hemangiomas in the rectum. Benign skin tumors are usually surgically resected but other treatments such as cryotherapy, curettage, electrodesiccation, laser therapy, dermabrasion, chemical peels and topical medication are used.
Because of the rarity of these tumors, there is still a lot of unknown information. There are many case studies that have been reported on patients who have been diagnosed with this specific type of tumor. Most of the above information comes from the findings resulting from case studies.
Since Papillary Tumors of the Pineal Region were first described in 2003, there have been seventy cases published in the English literature. Since there is such a small number of cases that have been reported, the treatment guidelines have not been established. A larger number of cases that contain a longer clinical follow-up are needed to optimize the management of patients with this rare disease.
Even though there is a general consensus on the morphology and the immunohistochemical characteristics that is required for the diagnosis, the histological grading criteria have yet to be fully defined and its biological behavior appears to be variable. This specific type of tumor appears to have a high potential for local recurrence with a high tumor bed recurrence rate during the five years after the initial surgery. This suggests the need for a tumor bed boost radiotherapy after surgical resection.
As stated above, the specific treatment guidelines have not yet been established, however, gross total resection of the tumor has been the only clinical factor associated overall and progression-free survival. The value of radiotherapy as well as chemotherapy on disease progression will need to be investigated in future trials. With this information, it will provide important insight into long-term management and may further our understanding of the histologic features of this tumor.
Use of telomerase inhibitors such as Imetelstat seem to have very low toxicity compared to other chemotherapy. The only known side effect of most telomerase inhibitors is dose-induced neutropenia. Neuropsychological deficits can result from resection, chemotherapy, and radiation, as well as endocrinopathies. Additionally, an increase in gastrointestinal complications has been observed in survivors of pediatric cancers.
The treatment of choice for both benign and malignant SFT is complete "en bloc" surgical resection.
Prognosis in benign SFTs is excellent. About 8% will recur after first resection, with the recurrence usually cured after additional surgery.
The prognosis in malignant SFTs is much more guarded. Approximately 63% of patients will have a recurrence of their tumor, of which more than half will succumb to disease progression within 2 years. Adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy in malignant SFT remains controversial.
Definitive treatment for ganglioglioma requires gross total surgical resection, and a good prognosis is generally expected when this is achieved. However, indistinct tumor margins and the desire to preserve normal spinal cord tissue, motor and sensory function may preclude complete resection of tumor. According to a series by Lang et al., reviewing several patients with resected spinal cord ganglioglioma, the 5- and 10-year survival rates after total resection were 89% and 83%, respectively. In that study, patients with spinal cord ganglioglioma had a 3.5-fold higher relative risk of tumor recurrence compared to patients with supratentorial ganglioglioma. It has been recognized that postoperative results correlate closely with preoperative neurological status as well as the ability to achieve complete resection.
With the exception of WHO grade III anaplastic ganglioglioma, radiation therapy is generally regarded to have no role in the treatment of ganglioglioma. In fact, radiation therapy may induce malignant transformation of a recurrent ganglioglioma several years later. Adjuvant chemotherapy is also typically reserved for anaplastic ganglioglioma, but has been used anecdotally in partially resected low grade spinal cord gangliogliomas which show evidence of disease progression.
hTERT and yH2AX are crucial markers for prognosis and response to therapy. High hTERT and low yH2AX expression is associated with poor response to therapy. Patients with both high or low expression of these markers make up the moderate response groups.
The primary method for treatment is surgical, not medical. Radiation and chemotherapy are not needed for benign lesions and are not effective for malignant lesions.
Benign granular cell tumors have a recurrence rate of 2% to 8% when resection margins are deemed clear of tumor infiltration. When the resection margins of a benign granular cell tumor are positive for tumor infiltration the recurrence rate is increased to 20%. Malignant lesions are aggressive and difficult to eradicate with surgery and have a recurrence rate of 32%.
At this point, no literature has indicated whether environmental factors increase the likelihood of astroblastoma. Although cancer in general is caused by a variety of external factors, including carcinogens, dangerous chemicals, and viral infections, astroblastoma research has not even attempted to classify incidence in this regard. The next few decades will aid in this understanding.
General treatment regimens have not changed much in the past 30 years, in part due to the lack of randomized clinical trials. Surgery is the treatment of choice if the tumor is determined to be resectable. Curettage is a commonly used technique. The situation is complicated in a patient with a pathological fracture. It may be best to immobilize the affected limb and wait for the fracture to heal before performing surgery.
Patients with tumors that are not amenable to surgery are treated with radiation therapy. However caution is employed since a majority of recurrent tumors with transformations to the malignant sarcoma phenotype have been in patients receiving radiotherapy for their primary benign lesion. Pharmacotherapy for GCTOB, includes bisphosphonates such as Zoledronate, which are thought to induce apoptosis in the MNGC fraction, preventing tumor-induced osteolysis. Indeed, "in vitro" studies have shown zolidronate to be effective in killing osteoclast-like cells. More recently, humanized monoclonal antibodies such as Denosumab targeting the RANK ligand have been employed in treatment of GCTOB in a phase II study. This is based on the notion that increased expression of RANK-ligands by stromal cells plays a role in tumor pathogenesis.
In reported cases of the tumor over the last 25 years, the number of affected females with astroblastoma is significantly higher than the number of affected males. Sughrue et al. confirmed this trend, stating that 70% of the cases with clearly stated gender were female (100 cases total). While several publications support a genetic predisposition to females, the underlying reasons are still unknown.
Papillary tumors of pineal region are extremely rare, constituting 0.4-1% of all central nervous system tumors. These tumors most commonly occur in adults with the mean age being 31.5. There have been cases reported for people between the ages 5 to 66 years. There is a slight predominance of females who have these tumors.
A benign tumor is a mass of cells (tumor) that lacks the ability to invade neighboring tissue or metastasize. Benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. Benign tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. When removed, they usually do not grow back, whereas malignant tumors sometimes do. Unlike most benign tumors elsewhere in the body, benign brain tumors can be life threatening. Benign tumors generally have a slower growth rate than malignant tumors and the tumor cells are usually more differentiated (cells have normal features). Benign tumors are typically surrounded by an outer surface (fibrous sheath of connective tissue) or remain with the epithelium. Common examples of benign tumors include moles and uterine fibroids.
Although benign tumors will not metastasize or locally invade tissues, some types may still produce negative health effects. The growth of benign tumors produces a "mass effect" that can compress tissues and may cause nerve damage, reduction of blood to an area of the body (ischaemia), tissue death (necrosis) and organ damage. The mass effect of tumors is more prominent if the tumor is within an enclosed space such as the cranium, respiratory tract, sinus or inside bones. Tumors of endocrine tissues may overproduce certain hormones, especially when the cells are well differentiated. Examples include thyroid adenomas and adrenocortical adenomas.
Although most benign tumors are not life-threatening, many types of benign tumors have the potential to become cancerous (malignant) through a process known as tumour progression. For this reason and other possible negative health effects, some benign tumors are removed by surgery.
Ependymomas make up about 5% of adult intracranial gliomas and up to 10% of childhood tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Their occurrence seems to peak at age 5 years and then again at age 35. They develop from cells that line both the hollow cavities of the brain and the canal containing the spinal cord, but they usually arise from the floor of the fourth ventricle, situated in the lower back portion of the brain, where they may produce headache, nausea and vomiting by obstructing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. This obstruction may also cause hydrocephalus. They may also arise in the spinal cord, conus medullaris and supratentorial locations. Other symptoms can include (but are not limited to): loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, temporary inability to distinguish colors, uncontrollable twitching, seeing vertical or horizontal lines when in bright light, and temporary memory loss. It should be remembered that these symptoms also are prevalent in many other illnesses not associated with ependymoma.
About 10% of ependymomas are benign myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE). MPE is a localized and slow-growing low-grade tumor, which originates almost exclusively from the lumbosacral nervous tissue of young patients. On the other hand, it is the most common tumor of the lumbosacral canal comprising about 90% of all tumoral lesions in this region.
Although some ependymomas are of a more anaplastic and malignant type, most of them are not anaplastic. Well-differentiated ependymomas are usually treated with surgery. For other ependymomas, total surgical removal is the preferred treatment in addition to radiation therapy. The malignant (anaplastic) varieties of this tumor, malignant ependymoma and the ependymoblastoma, are treated similarly to medulloblastoma but the prognosis is much less favorable. Malignant ependymomas may be treated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Ependymoblastomas, which occur in infants and children younger than 5 years of age, may spread through the cerebrospinal fluid and usually require radiation therapy. The subependymoma, a variant of the ependymoma, is apt to arise in the fourth ventricle but may occur in the septum pellucidum and the cervical spinal cord. It usually affects people over 40 years of age and more often affects men than women.
Extraspinal ependymoma (EEP), also known as extradural ependymoma, may be an unusual form of teratoma or may be confused with a sacrococcygeal teratoma.
Ependymoma is a tumor that arises from the ependyma, a tissue of the central nervous system. Usually, in pediatric cases the location is intracranial, while in adults it is spinal. The common location of intracranial ependymoma is the fourth ventricle. Rarely, ependymoma can occur in the pelvic cavity.
Syringomyelia can be caused by an ependymoma.
Ependymomas are also seen with neurofibromatosis type II.
Cancer immunotherapy is being actively studied. For malignant gliomas no therapy has been shown to improve life expectancy as of 2015.
Led by Prof. Nori Kasahara, researchers from USC, who are now at UCLA, reported in 2001 the first successful example of applying the use of retroviral replicating vectors towards transducing cell lines derived from solid tumors. Building on this initial work, the researchers applied the technology to "in vivo" models of cancer and in 2005 reported a long-term survival benefit in an experimental brain tumor animal model. Subsequently, in preparation for human clinical trials, this technology was further developed by Tocagen (a pharmaceutical company primarily focused on brain cancer treatments) as a combination treatment (Toca 511 & Toca FC). This has been under investigation since 2010 in a Phase I/II clinical trial for the potential treatment of recurrent high-grade glioma including glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and anaplastic astrocytoma. No results have yet been published.
SFT was first mentioned in the scientific literature by Wagner. The first discussion of its clinical and pathological properties was by Klemperer and Rabin. SFTs have also been known as hemangiopericytomas although this term has now been discontinued from WHO tumor classifications.
Over the years pleural SFTs acquired a number of synonyms, including localized fibrous tumor, benign mesothelioma, localized
fibrous mesothelioma, submesothelial fibroma, and pleural fibroma. The use of names that include ‘mesothelioma’ for this tumor is discouraged because of potential confusion with diffuse malignant mesothelioma, a much more serious disease.
Benign fibromas may, but need not be, removed. Removal is usually a brief outpatient procedure.
A number of tumors have giant cells, but are not true benign giant-cell tumors. These include, aneurysmal bone cyst, chondroblastoma, simple bone cyst, osteoid osteoma, osteoblastoma, osteosarcoma, giant-cell reparative granuloma, and brown tumor of hyperparathyroidism.
Overall, the mainstay of the treatment for salivary gland tumor is surgical resection. Needle biopsy is highly recommended prior to surgery to confirm the diagnosis. More detailed surgical technique and the support for additional adjuvant radiotherapy depends on whether the tumor is malignant or benign.
Surgical treatment of parotid gland tumors is sometimes difficult, partly because of the anatomical relationship of the facial nerve and the parotid lodge, but also through the increased potential for postoperative relapse. Thus, detection of early stages of a tumor of the parotid gland is extremely important in terms of prognosis after surgery.
Generally, benign tumors of the parotid gland are treated with superficial(Patey's operation) or total parotidectomy with the latter being the more commonly practiced due to high incidence of recurrence. The facial nerve should be preserved whenever possible. The benign tumors of the submandibular gland is treated by simple excision with preservation of mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve, the hypoglossal nerve, and the lingual nerve. Other benign tumors of minor salivary glands are treated similarly.
Malignant salivary tumors usually require wide local resection of the primary tumor. However, if complete resection cannot be achieved, adjuvant radiotherapy should be added to improve local control. This surgical treatment has many sequellae such as cranial nerve damage, Frey's syndrome, cosmetic problems, etc.
Usually about 44% of the patients have a complete histologic removal of the tumor and this refers to the most significant survival rate.
Lipoblastoma is a type of subcutaneous benign fatty tumor.
Types include:
- Benign lipoblastomatosis, a tumor, also known as an embryonic lipoma, which usually occurs in children under three years old. This is the tumor of brown fat cells.
- Myxoid lipoblastoma, a cutaneous condition characterized by excess mucin
For malignant teratomas, usually, surgery is followed by chemotherapy.
Teratomas that are in surgically inaccessible locations, or are very complex, or are likely to be malignant (due to late discovery and/or treatment) sometimes are treated first with chemotherapy.
Granular cell tumor is a tumor that can develop on any skin or mucosal surface, but occurs on the tongue 40% of the time.
It is also known as Abrikossoff's tumor, Granular cell myoblastoma, Granular cell nerve sheath tumor, and Granular cell schwannoma.)