Surgery

Surgery is used to diagnose and treat childhood gliomas, as discussed in the Tests to diagnose childhood glioma (including astrocytoma) section of this summary. After surgery, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is done to see if any cancer cells remain. If cancer cells are found, further treatment depends on:

After the doctor removes all the cancer that can be seen at the time of the surgery, some children may be given chemotherapy or radiation therapy to kill any cancer cells that are left. Treatment given after the surgery, to lower the risk that the cancer will come back, is called adjuvant therapy.

Sometimes children with a glioma have increased fluid around the brain or spinal cord. They may need surgery to place a shunt (long, thin tube) in a ventricle (fluid-filled space) of the brain and thread it under the skin to another part of the body, usually the abdomen. The shunt carries extra fluid away from the brain so it may be absorbed elsewhere in the body. This decreases the fluid and pressure on the brain or spinal cord. This process is called a CSF shunt.