Summary Summary Short summary of a recent publication, written by scientific experts. Published: 24 Apr 2023

Long-term outcomes after primary or salvage stereotactic radiosurgery in infratentorial juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas

  • The optimal radiation therapy for pilocytic astrocytomas is yet to be established. The authors aimed to radiosurgery outcomes in children (median age 11.6 years) who underwent primary (n=12) or salvage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS; n=32) for infratentorial juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas (JPA).
  • Data from this study indicated a 97.7% and 92.5% overall survival rate after SRS at year 1 and years 5–10, respectively. Progression free survival (PFS) after SRS decreased from year 1 to year 10 (year 1: 95.4%, year 5: 79%, year 10: 61.4%). Radiosurgery reduced tumor volume in 54.4% of patients, while 27.3% of patients had delayed tumor progression following SRS.
  • According to the authors, SRS can be used as an alternative therapy for JPA.