To receive the best-available treatment, it is essential that the child with a brain or spinal cord tumor be treated at a pediatric medical center by board-certified pediatric oncologists or neuro-oncologists with extensive experience treating these types of tumors. For most children, treatment begins within days of diagnosis and requires aggressive supportive care. The goal of treatment is to achieve complete remission by obliterating all cancer cells as quickly as possible.

Treatment of childhood brain and spinal cord tumors includes one or more of the following:

• Surgery (see Chapter 10)
• Chemotherapy (see Chapter 11)
• Radiation Therapy (see Chapter 13)
• Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation (see Chapter 14)