Brain Tumor Program
If your child has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, it is important to understand that these tumors typically do not appear in the same way in children as they do in adults. Also, because children’s brains are rapidly developing, they need treatments from specialists familiar with the complexities of pediatric brain tumors.
Here at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center, your child will receive care from many of the world’s most experienced pediatric brain tumor doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and internationally recognized pediatric subspecialists at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Our expertise
- Our dedicated neuropathologist provides a quick and accurate diagnosis, helping us tailor treatment to your child’s exact type of tumor.
- Our pediatric neurosurgeons have one of the nation’s few operating rooms with an MRI inside, which means they can simultaneously perform surgery and obtain detailed images to ensure maximum removal of your child’s tumor.
- Specialized equipment allows our pediatric radiation oncologist to minimize exposure by targeting radiation doses at the tumor, avoiding healthy brain tissue. We have access to the Northeast Proton Beam Center.
- We use innovative chemotherapy deliver techniques that may minimize your child’s hospital admissions, and we offer unique treatment options through our extensive clinical trial program.
- Our survivorship experts manage the Stop & Shop Family Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Outcomes Clinic, a special program for survivors of childhood brain tumors.
Did you know? Our advances in care
Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center was one of the first centers in the country to use adjuvant chemotherapy and perform limb salvage surgery for patients with osteosarcoma.
Medulloblastoma: Actually four different diseases?
Two years ago, Boston Children's Neurologist-in-Chief Scott Pomeroy, MD, PhD, found that medulloblastomas—the most common malignant brain tumor of children—clustered into four distinct types, each with its own survival rate. Now he's found the gene mutations that fuel the subtypes, opening the door to personalizing treatment for these tumors. Learn more.
Conditions & Treatments
- Acupuncture
- Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor
- Brain SPECT
- Brain tumors
- Cerebellar low-grade astrocytomas
- Choroid plexus tumor
- Germ cell tumors of the brain
- Low-grade gliomas
- Medulloblastoma
- Nervous system disorders
- Neurological examination
- Oligodendroglioma
- Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma
- Psychological complications of chronic illness
- Rhabdomyosarcoma
- Spinal tap (Lumbar puncture)
- Tectal gliomas
- Angiogram
- Brain PET
- Brain anatomy
- Cancer
- Cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma
- Diffuse pontine glioma
- Glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Meningioma
- Neurological diagnostic tests
- Neurosurgery
- Optic pathway glioma
- Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET)
- Radiosurgery
- Seizures
- Surgery
- Thalamic or hypothalamic astrocytoma
