Tumors Grew More Slowly After Surgery in Children With Pilocytic Astrocytoma
Original title: Impact of Surgical Resection on Tumor Growth Dynamics in Pediatric Pilocytic Astrocytomas.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Doctors looked back at old scans of children already treated, so nothing new is proven yet.
The short version
In a small study, leftover brain tumors grew more slowly after surgery.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at MRI scans from 37 children with pilocytic astrocytoma, a slow growing brain tumor. They measured how fast the leftover tumor grew before surgery and after surgery.
What they found. Scans from 37 patients were studied. Not every child had scans at every point in time. In a smaller group of 14 children, growth clearly slowed after a second surgery compared with after the first. When each child was looked at on their own, growth went down after surgery. In the whole group, growth also seemed to slow, but the change was not clear enough to count.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Surgery may do more than just make a tumor smaller. It may also slow down how fast the leftover part grows. Surgery is already used for these tumors, so this may help teams read follow up scans.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a cure and not a new treatment. The doctors only looked back at scans that were already taken, from a small number of children. The authors say this is an early idea that still needs to be proven. Bigger studies that follow children going forward are needed. Nothing here changes the care a child gets today.
Source: PubMed, September 25, 2026 · Read the original
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