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href="/treatment/patient-care/skin-issues/">Skin Issues</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/fatigue/">Fatigue</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/breathing-issues/">Breathing Issues</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/seizures/">Seizures</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/sleeping-issues/">Sleeping Issues</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/ports-and-catheters/">Ports and Catheters</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/complementary-and-alternative-medicines/">Complementary and Alternative Medicines</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/practical-care-issues/">Practical Care Issues</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/communication-challenges/">Communication Challenges</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/caring-for-your-children-and-yourselves/">Caring for Your Children and Yourselves</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/other-helpful-tips/">Other Helpful Tips</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/making-difficult-decisions/">Making Difficult Decisions</a></li> <li class="nonselected"><a href="/treatment/patient-care/parents-advice-for-other-parents/">Parent's Advice for Other Parents</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav> <p><strong>Feeling overwhelmed?</strong><br />Considering signing up at <a href="https://dipgwarrior.org" target="_blank">dipgwarrior.org</a> so we can point you in the right direction.</p> <a class="btn secondary" href="https://dipgwarrior.org" target="_blank" role="button" title="Learn More">Learn more</a> <hr /> <h2>Sign-Up For Updates</h2> <div class="col-md-12"> <div id="wufoo-m1dv0k7b0bt96w5"> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var m1dv0k7b0bt96w5; (function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName':'thecurestartsnow', 'formHash':'m1dv0k7b0bt96w5', 'autoResize':true, 'height':'342', 'async':true, 'host':'wufoo.com', 'header':'show', 'ssl':true }; s.src = ('https:' == d.location.protocol ?'https://':'http://') + 'secure.wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js'; s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function() { var rs = this.readyState; if (rs) if (rs != 'complete') if (rs != 'loaded') return; try { m1dv0k7b0bt96w5 = new WufooForm(); m1dv0k7b0bt96w5.initialize(options); m1dv0k7b0bt96w5.display(); } catch (e) { } }; var scr = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0], par = scr.parentNode; par.insertBefore(s, scr); })(document, 'script'); </script> </div> </aside> <article class="col-md-9"> <h1>DIPG Treatment Options</h1> <p>Once the <a href="/facts/diagnosis-and-imaging-of-dipg/" title="Diagnosis and Imaging of DIPG">diagnosis</a> of DIPG is suspected, there is a standard course of treatment that your doctor will most likely follow:</p> <ul> <li><span>At the time of diagnosis, <a href="/treatment/steroids/" title="Steroids">steroids</a> are often the first treatment offered to patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.</span></li> <li><span>Soon after the steroid聽regimen, patients are prepped for <a href="/treatment/radiation-therapy/" title="Radiation Therapy">radiation therapy</a>.</span></li> <li><span>Unfortunately, no <a href="/treatment/chemotherapy/" title="Chemotherapy">chemotherapy</a>聽drugs to date are known to have an impact on survival.</span></li> </ul> <p><span>In almost all cases, after about 6 to 12 months, the DIPG tumor starts to grow again.聽Once the tumor has started to grow again, no further treatment has been shown to improve survival.聽When children start to have neurologic symptoms, they are often restarted on steroids.</span></p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/facts/clinical-course-for-dipg/" role="button" title="Clinical Course for DIPG">More on the Clinical Course of DIPG</a></p> <h2>Radiation</h2> <p>Radiation therapy is the standard treatment for children with DIPGs.聽 It is an effective palliative treatment that improves symptoms in about 80% of children with DIPGs, prolonging their survival by 2-3 months.聽 A common complication of radiation therapy in children with a DIPG is radiation necrosis鈥攃ell death of brain tissue.聽 Steroids are typically used for the symptomatic treatment of radiation necrosis.</p> <p>Medical professionals are exploring the use of <a href="/treatment/radiosensitizers/" title="Radiosensitizers">radiosensitizers</a>, which are agents that may be given along with radiation to improve the effects of this therapy.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/radiation-therapy/" role="button" title="Radiation Therapy">Learn More</a></p> <h2>Steroids</h2> <p>Steroids are often used in the management diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs).聽 Steroid treatment aims to improve neurological symptoms, reduce the edema surrounding the tumor that may sometimes impact the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and prevent or minimize the edema induced by the initiation of the radiation treatment. 聽Side effects from steroids can include hyperphagia鈥攁 feeling of extreme excessive hunger, immunosuppression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, steroid myopathy, gastrointestinal issues, and fluid retention.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/steroids/" role="button" title="Steroids">Learn More</a></p> <h2>Surgery</h2> <p>Operating on DIPGs is an issue because they are diffuse, intrinsic and in the pons. 聽DIPG cells don鈥檛 grow as large masses that push normal brain tissue aside, instead they are lumps of cells that grow into surrounding tissue, therefore mixing cancer cells with healthy cells. As a result, it鈥檚 not possible for a surgeon to separate normal from abnormal tissue. 聽In some cases, children with DIPGs will need to have procedures to control cerebrospinal fluid pressure in the brain caused by DIPG growth.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/surgery/" role="button" title="Surgery">Learn More</a></p> <h2>Chemotherapy</h2> <p>Chemotherapy is any medication that kills cancer cells.聽 It works by targeting cells that are actively dividing thereby stopping the cancer cells from reproducing.聽 There are a couple major challenges that exist with brain tumors.聽 One is the blood-brain barrier, which blocks many unrecognizable, potentially toxic substances including many types of chemotherapy from penetrating the brain.聽 Another challenge is that the tumor cells that make up brainstem gliomas are resistant to chemotherapy.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/chemotherapy/" role="button" title="Chemotherapy">Learn More</a></p> <h2>CED (Convection Enhanced Delivery)</h2> <p>Convection Enhanced Delivery (CED) is a technique of inserting a small catheter directly into the DIPG, the pontine tumor, to deliver drugs.聽 CED is a way to bypass the Blood Brain Barrier and deliver drugs at high concentrations into the DIPG tumor.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/ced/" role="button" title="CED">Learn More</a></p> <h2>Clinical Trials</h2> <p>Clinical trials are used to test new possible treatments for cancer and to find out whether a treatment is safe; whether a treatment has the effects on cancer cells that scientists think it will; and whether it is effective at shrinking tumors, delaying growth of tumors, or making people live longer.聽 Clinical trials are a vital part of medical research, and without them new treatments that may save or improve the lives of cancer patients would not be identified.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/clinical-trials/active-clinical-trials/" role="button" title="Active Clinical Trials">View Active Clinical Trials</a></p> <h2>Emerging Treatments</h2> <p>New and upcoming treatment methods for DIPG include, Proton Beam Radiation, Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy, and Immunotherapy.聽 With more clinical trials and studies on these emerging methods, DIPG treatment options may expand.</p> <p><a class="btn primary" href="/treatment/emerging-treatments/" role="button" title="Emerging Treatments">Learn More</a></p> <footer class="footnotes"> <p> Content used with permission from the <a href="https://www.acco.org/" target="_blank">American Childhood Cancer Organization</a>. Hoffman, Ruth, editor. <em>Understanding The Journey: A Parent鈥檚 Guide to DIPG</em>. American Childhood Cancer Organization, 2012. Print. </p> </footer> </article> </div> </div> </main> <footer id="footer"> DIPG.org is proud to be a part of <strong>The Cure Starts Now Cancer Resource Network</strong>:<br /><a href="https://thecurestartsnow.org" target="_blank">The Cure Starts Now</a> | <a href="https://curecancer.org" target="_blank">CureCancer.org</a> | <a href="https://dipg.org" target="_blank">DIPG.org</a> | <a href="https://medulloblastoma.org" target="_blank">Medulloblastoma.org</a><br /><br />10280 Chester Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45215 | 513-772-4888<br />Copyright 2022 The Cure Starts Now. All Rights Reserved.<br /><br />Special thanks to the <a href="http://dipgregistry.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DIPG Registry</a> and <a href="http://dipgcollaborative.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DIPG Collaborative</a><br /><br />Image Courtesy the Waneka Family and C. 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