Childhood tumor

Patients with skull base tumors benefit from the most advanced techniques and treatments, and common treatments may include:

Minimally invasive surgical techniques, including endoscopic transnasal surgery, keyhole craniotomy and endoscopic transorbital approach

Advanced open surgical techniques

Radiation therapy, including proton therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as innovative radiation therapy imaging and delivery techniques

Advanced reconstructive surgery

Chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy

We are constantly working on newer, safer and more advanced treatments for skull base tumors. This means we are able to offer a range of clinical trials for new treatments.

If you are diagnosed with a skull base tumor, your doctor will discuss the best options for treating it. It depends on:

Type of tumor

Location and extent of the tumor

Possible side effects of treatment

Your health

Most skull base tumors require surgery. Some can be treated without surgery (such as radiation or chemotherapy). Others do not require immediate treatment and can be monitored closely over time under the care of an experienced skull base specialist.

Treatment of skull base tumors will be tailored to your specific needs. It may include one or more of the following.

Surgical operation

Like all surgeries, skull base tumor surgery is the most successful surgery, and it is a surgeon who has extensive experience in this procedure.

The main types of surgery for skull base tumors are:

Open surgery: An incision is made in the skin or membranes of the nose, mouth, or throat to expose the bones at the base of the skull. Cuts can often be hidden in the hair, skin folds, nose, or mouth.

The affected bone is removed to expose the tumor and identify important nerves and blood vessels. After the tumor is removed, the membranes that protect the brain and surrounding soft tissues are closed to seal the skull base. Sometimes, when treating large skull base tumors, plastic surgeons reconstruct soft tissue and bone to optimize function and appearance. When muscles and nerves are affected, highly specialized plastic surgeons may provide facial resuscitation and complex craniofacial reconstruction.

Minimally invasive endoscopic surgery: The surgeon uses an endoscope to biopsy or remove tumors at the base of the skull, making no incisions or only a few small incisions in the skull, the back of the sinuses, or the creases of the eyelids. These procedures use natural passages such as the nasal cavity or along the orbit:

Reduces damage to healthy tissue

Shorten hospital stay and recovery time

Reduce complications

Image-guided surgery: CT (computed tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans are performed before surgery. They are then used in the operating room to help guide surgeons to the precise location of the tumor. The accuracy, accuracy and safety of skull base surgery were improved.

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging: provides surgeons with accurate, "live" images of the tumor and its surrounding areas during surgery. This increases the surgeon's accuracy and increases the chances of completely removing the skull base tumor.

radiotherapy

Radiation therapy uses powerful, focused beams of energy to kill cancer cells. There are several different radiation therapy techniques. Doctors can use these to pinpoint tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

The types of radiation used to treat skull base tumors include:

Stereotactic radiation therapy: Stereotactic radiation therapy is a non-invasive treatment that uses dozens of highly focused beams of radiation to precisely target large doses of tumors. SRT utilizes high-resolution three-dimensional imaging and a specialized coordinate system to provide accurate tumor maps. This minimizes the impact on surrounding normal tissue. SRT treatment is usually given in one to five sessions.

Fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy: Another type of stereotactic therapy, when fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy is performed, multiple treatments (usually 3 to 5) are required. It is also known as stereotactic body radiation therapy or stereotactic ablative radiation therapy. It is used when the tumor is too large for single stereotactic therapy, or when it is very close to a critical organ.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) : Stereotactic radiosurgery is a type of SRT. It is a non-invasive treatment that uses dozens of tiny beams of radiation to accurately target tumors with a single, high-dose dose of radiation. Despite its name, SRS is not a surgical procedure. No incision, no anesthesia.

Stereotactic radiosurgery is an effective method for the treatment of small tumors that cannot be reached by head and neck surgery. It can also be used in patients who cannot tolerate surgery or who have previously received radiation therapy to the brain.

Proton therapy: Proton therapy is similar to traditional photon-based radiation therapy, but it uses a different type of energy and allows doctors to more accurately target tumors. This limits damage to nearby healthy tissue and allows for greater doses of radiation.

Proton therapy is particularly beneficial when treating children with cancer or tumors located near vital organs.

Reradiotherapy: The purpose of reradiotherapy at the base of the skull is to provide long-term cancer control while maintaining quality of life.

Repeating radiation in an area that has already received radiation is very challenging. In order to avoid unnecessary re-irradiation of normal tissue, radiation must be delivered precisely and accurately. It is important that the radiation oncologist and the radiation therapy team have experience with reradiation therapy for skull base tumors.

Advanced radiation therapy techniques, such as IMRT/VMAT, proton therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, etc., can be used to reirradiate skull base tumors when surgery is not possible. We also offer clinical trials for patients with unresectable skull base tumors.

Palliative reirradiation: Stereotactic reirradiation of the skull base can be used to relieve facial pain symptoms caused by cancer. A study conducted by the Department of Medicine has shown that stereotactic radiosurgery treatment reduces facial pain caused by certain skull tumors and reduces the need for the use of narcotic painkillers.

chemotherapy

Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells, control their growth, or relieve symptoms associated with the disease. Chemotherapy may involve a single drug or a combination of two or more drugs, depending on the type of cancer and how fast it is growing.

immunotherapy

The immune system protects the body from infection and disease. Cancer is a complex disease that evades and outsmarts the immune system. Immunotherapy improves the immune system's ability to eliminate cancer.

Skull base tumors can be treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy. Checkpoint inhibitors keep the immune system inside the tumor in a normal state.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapeutic drugs aim to stop or slow the growth or spread of cancer. This happens at the cellular level. Cancer cells need specific molecules (usually in the form of proteins) to survive, reproduce, and spread. These cancer-promoting molecules are often made of the same genes that cause cancer. Targeted therapies are designed to interfere with or target these cancer-promoting molecules.