What treatment options do you usually recommend for children with craniopharyngiomas?
Almost always, we attempt to remove as much of the tumor as is safely possible, and hopefully cure the patient by removing all of it. We have been able to do this in about 60% of our operated patients. In the vast majority of children with craniopharyngiomas, however, the tumors grow from the pituitary stalk region, meaning that the removal of the tumor invariably results in a full and complete pituitary hormonal deficit. These children therefore require life-long replacement with hormones and must remain under the care of an endocrinologist throughout their growth and development. Even if surgery is completely successful in removing the tumor, however, there is still a possibility that the tumor could regrow from small particles of the tumor left behind at the operation. Some children will require reoperation to remove these recurrences. Surgery does not sound very pleasant, but the effects of the tumor if left untreated will result in similar hormonal deficits eventually, and in most
