Nursing Medical News about Spinal cord astrocytomas

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Spinal cord astrocytomas: Rare but life-threatening tumors in children
JAAPA, 06/24/09

Chelcun JL et al. - Although rare overall, astrocytoma is the most commonly diagnosed IMSCT in the pediatric population. Most intramedullary astrocytomas occur in the cervicothoracic spine. Symptoms include back pain, sensory and motor dysfunction, and spinal cord deformity. The diagnosis is made by contrast and noncontrast MRI as well as tumor biopsy. Surgical intervention is the treatment of choice, although it is difficult to completely resect the solid tumor because of the infiltrative nature of astrocytomas. Adjunct therapies, including radiation and chemotherapy, have also been studied for use in the treatment of astrocytomas. However, more research is needed to determine the role of these therapies in children. The prognosis of astrocytomas is dependent upon the histologic tumor grade as well as the child's functional status at diagnosis. Unfortunately, the prognosis of high-grade astrocytomas is poor. As clinicians, we must consider spinal cord astrocytoma in the differential diagnosis of any child with back pain, as diagnosis at an earlier stage improves survival and functional outcome.

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