Managing teenage/young adult (TYA) brain tumors: a UK perspective

Tumors of the CNS are among the commonest malignancies occurring in teenage/young adult patients (i.e., those aged between 15 and 24 years). The treatment of this patient population is challenging. Adolescence and young adulthood are a turbulent period of life, with physical, emotional, social and c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CNS oncology 2015, Vol.4 (4), p.235-246
Main Authors: Alken, Scheryll P, D'Urso, Pietro, Saran, Frank H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adolescent
DIPG
germ cell tumor
germinoma
medulloblastoma
pontine glioma
Special Report
teenage
TYA
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Summary:Tumors of the CNS are among the commonest malignancies occurring in teenage/young adult patients (i.e., those aged between 15 and 24 years). The treatment of this patient population is challenging. Adolescence and young adulthood are a turbulent period of life, with physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes. Best practice advocates their treatment in dedicated teenage/young adult units, with multidisciplinary team input and access to clinical trials. Treatment of CNS malignancies is dependent upon histological subtype and staging, with varying combinations of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy used. Clinical trials directly targeted at this patient population are rare; treatments are based on pediatric protocols as studies have demonstrated improved outcomes in patients (with other malignancies) treated as such. Scope for improvement lies in minimizing patient risk of recurrence and long-term sequelae of treatment. Molecular characterization of tumors may provide further information.
ISSN:2045-0907
2045-0915
DOI:10.2217/cns.15.14