This PDQ summary contains content that is also included in the new PDQ Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumors summary. In the very near future, the PDQ Childhood Medulloblastoma summary will be removed from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) website and the content contained in this summary will be found in the PDQ Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumors summary.

The National Cancer Institute provides the PDQ pediatric cancer treatment information summaries as a public service to increase the availability of evidence-based cancer information to health professionals, patients, and the public.

In recent decades, dramatic improvements in survival have been achieved for children and adolescents with cancer. Childhood and adolescent cancer survivors require close follow-up because cancer therapy side effects may persist or develop months or years after treatment. Refer to the PDQ Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer ¹ summary for specific information about the incidence, type, and monitoring of late effects in childhood and adolescent cancer survivors.

Primary brain tumors are a diverse group of diseases that together constitute the most common solid tumor of childhood. Brain tumors are classified according to histology, but tumor location and extent of spread are important factors that affect treatment and prognosis. Immunohistochemical analysis, cytogenetic and molecular genetic findings, and measures of mitotic activity are increasingly used in the tumor diagnosis and classification.

Refer to the PDQ Childhood Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors Treatment ² summary for information about the general classification of childhood brain and spinal cord tumors.