Two-Year Survival Less than 25 percent. The prognosis may be better if the tumor can be totally removed. Younger patients and those with lower-grade tumors may do better.
Recurrent Cancer Chemotherapy is given if relapse occurs after radiation therapy . Since no standard agents have a high degree of activity, entry on a clinical trial should be considered.
Supratentorial Ependymoma
These ependymomas arise outside the posterior fossa (back of the skull), usually within and adjacent to the ventricles .
Standard Treatment Surgery followed by radiation therapy. In low-grade tumors, the primary tumor area is given radiation. With high-grade tumors, the entire brain and spinal cord are treated.
Adjuvant chemotherapy is under evaluation. Consideration should be given to its use in very young children to delay or modify radiation therapy.
Two-Year Survival About 40 percent
Investigational
• Various radiotherapy trials, with and without chemotherapy.
