Central nervous system atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor: results of therapy in children enrolled in a registry.
OBJECTIVE
Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) of the CNS is an extremely rare and aggressive tumor of early childhood. The poor outcome with conventional infant brain tumor therapy has resulted in a lack of clear treatment guidelines. A registry has been established to create an outcomes database and to facilitate biology studies for this tumor.


METHODS
A standardized data sheet was provided to treating physicians listing the reports that were to be sent to the registry for abstraction. Follow-up information was sought twice yearly.


RESULTS
Information was complete for 42 patients. Median age at diagnosis was 24 months. Nine patients (21%) had disseminated disease at diagnosis. Sixteen tumors were infratentorial; 26 were supratentorial. Twenty patients (48%) received a primary complete resection. Primary therapy included chemotherapy in all patients, radiotherapy in 13 patients (31%), stem-cell rescue in 13 patients (31%), and intrathecal chemotherapy in 16 patients (38%). Recurrent or progressive disease was reported in nine and 19 patients, respectively. Twenty-seven patients (64%) are dead of disease (3 to 62 months from diagnosis) and one patient died of toxicity. Fourteen patients (33%) show no evidence of disease (9.5 to 96 months from diagnosis). The median survival is 16.75 months and the median event-free survival is 10 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Aggressive therapy has prolonged the natural history in a subset of children. Prospective multi-institutional and national clinical trials designed specifically for AT/RT are needed. Enrollment onto the AT/RT registry should be continued.
Hilden
Joanne M
JM
Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, The Children's Hospital, The Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Desk S20, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. hildenj@ccf.org
Meerbaum
Sharon
S
Burger
Peter
P
Finlay
Jonathan
J
Janss
Anna
A
Scheithauer
Bernd W
BW
Walter
Andrew W
AW
Rorke
Lucy B
LB
Biegel
Jaclyn A
JA
D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D018335:Rhabdoid Tumor / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013724:Teratoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome