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While the first edition of this book provided a succinct introduction to pediatric neuro-oncology, biological knowledge of childhood CNS tumors has “exploded” over the past few years and a new edition of this textbook is needed to keep it up-to-date. This updated edition will include chapters on cancer predisposition in children with brain tumors, gliomas, embryonal brain tumors, ependymoma, CNS-GCT, targeted therapies in pediatric brain tumors, and long-term sequelae. New developments covered include the following: - Techniques like DNA methylation have improved the diagnostic process, and have led to an integrated diagnosis of histology, ICH and methylation. - Tumor pathways have been detected, which defines more subgroups within a tumor entity, and results in more individualized treatment for the patient. - Therapeutic options outside the standard combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation have either been implemented within the last years, or are currently under consideration. This book will be aimed at pediatric oncologists and neurooncologists, neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists. Chapters detailing quality of life and supportive care will make this 2nd edition a useful resource for nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists alike.

This book aims to gather the current knowledge regarding different aspects of brain and spinal cord tumors in order to more efficiently help the patients. Brain tumors comprise about 5–9% of all human neoplasms; and the central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms are ranked among the most prevalent neoplasms of childhood as well. The more we know about the nature and characteristic of brain and spinal cord tumors, the more precise decision could be made for each patient, in order to reach the best outcome. While surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have been considered as the standards of care for benign and/or malignant CNS tumors since a long time ago, new therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy have been recently proposed to be considered for treatment of CNS tumors, especially as in some cases, the tumors might be inoperable or the patient may not benefit from other treatment modalities after several recurrences. The second volume of the book focuses on clinical aspects of these tumors. Accordingly, the most important brain and spinal cord tumors are specifically discussed in each chapter based on a rational outlining for all chapter in this volume: Background and epidemiology, genetics, immunology and molecular biology, histopathology and morphology, imaging and radiologic features, clinical manifestations, therapeutic approaches, surgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, new therapeutic modalities, follow-up, and prognosis. The chapters of this volume discuss the following pathologies of brain and spinal cord tumors: malignant glioma, benign glioma, meningiomas and other meningeal tumors, ependymomas, medulloblastomas, pineal tumors, choroid plexus and ventricular tumors, neuroectodermal tumors of CNS, neuroepithelial tumors of CNS, pituitary gland tumors, craniopharyngioma, schwannomas and nerve-sheet tumors, hemangioblastomas and other vascular originating tumors, brain and spinal tumors of embryonic origin, germ line cell tumors, malignant bone or cartilage-originating tumors of brain and spine, benign bone or cartilage-originating tumors of brain and spine, brain tumors affecting the orbit globe and orbit tumors affecting the brain, CNS lymphomas, metastatic lesions of the brain and spine, malignant spinal tumors, benign spinal tumors, brain and/or spinal cord tumors accompanied with other diseases or syndromes, psychological and psychiatric aspects of brain and spinal cord tumors, a brief explanation on surgical approaches for treatment of different brain tumors. This volume of book is useful for physicians of different specialties, mainly neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuropathologists, and neuroradiologists.

Gliomas represent some of the most difficult tumors to understand and most challenging to treat. As illustrated in this book, the difficulty in understanding them is apparent in various ways. They have significant diversity in histology, genomic alternations, protein expression, clinical presentation, radiographic appearance, treatment approaches, and ideas of how to cure them. Our current understanding of the genetic mutations and signaling pathways that drive these tumors has greatly expanded our knowledge and at the same time, our uncertainty about how to combat these tumors. Added to this complexity is the fact that we are typically talking about tumors that infiltrate through an organ that many of us consider the “seat of our souls,” where we must exercise the utmost caution in how we deliver treatments with great risks. This book begins with an introduction to this complex topic with a broad overview of grading criteria, histological features, common genomic alterations and affected signaling pathways, and current treatments. Most exciting is an extensive discussion on new therapeutic concepts and delivering mechanisms that arise from the complex field of nanotechnology where nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals may someday become the Trojan horse. Subsequent chapters are devoted to unique situations such as brainstem gliomas and gliomas in our pediatric population, where tumors and patients can behave very differently from their adult counterparts. Before devoting several chapters to the biology of these tumors, the book discusses surgical and radiotherapeutic aspects of the glioma field. One chapter focuses on a growing trend to minimize approaches to reduce morbidity, by the use of customized craniotomies, endoscopy and potential robotics in the near future. Another chapter is devoted to current common imaging characteristics with an excellent description of its limitations in describing the clear biological heterogeneity. Future imaging modalities will likely move toward more functional, metabolic, and protein-specific forms of imaging to diagnose, deliver treatments, and monitor response to treatments. The last decade has certainly witnessed significant gains in areas that will contribute to making progress in glioma treatment. In malignant gliomas, we finally have established a trimodal “standard of care” on which all glioma clinicians agree, all glioma patients hopefully receive, and with which we can compare future experimental trials. We have an encyclopedic knowledge of the molecular biology behind these tumors, and now need to figure out where to exploit it. Imaging and drug delivery methods are achieving impressive sophistication. The challenge of the next decade will be to bring focus to our strategies and to channel them through increasingly complex, costly and lengthy clinical trial designs.

In this yearbook for 2011 we start out with a description of research from the University of Toronto in Canada on bone metastases. The next section also from the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is about brain metastases, a frequent manifestation of advanced cancer devastating to the patient as typically patients do not survive more than a year upon diagnosis and the treatment itself often results in significant side effects that impact a patients quality of life. The next section is on neuroplasticity, which reflects the ability of human brain to alter the pattern of neural activation in response to previous experience, and recent findings indicate that the effects of experience can lead to both structural as well as functional reorganization. If neuromodulatory approaches prove to be safe and effective, they could change the current view of best practice in pain management and assume a significant role in the clinic. This yearbook will present you with the latest research on pain management.

The topography of the brainstem is complex, and even experienced neurologists find it challenging to localize brainstem lesions and diagnose brainstem disorders. This richly illustrated book provides a comprehensive review of brainstem disorders and presents the clinical knowledge necessary for diagnosis. The opening sections document the brainstem neuroanatomy and discuss current diagnostic methods. The entire spectrum of clinical findings in brainstem disorders is then described, and topodiagnostic aspects of the neurological findings are explained in detail. The descriptions of brain stem disorders are consistently structured and are supported by many MR images and short case reports. In addition to primary brainstem lesions, such as vascular brainstem syndromes, other disorders are considered that do not exclusively show brainstem symptoms or signs, e.g., multiple sclerosis. This book will serve as an invaluable reference work for neurologists in clinical practice or further education.