Brain Tumor Center

Childhood Ependymoma

What is Childhood Ependymoma?

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The brain controls memory and learning, senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch), and emotion. It also controls other parts of the body, including muscles, organs, and blood vessels.

Other than leukemia and lymphoma, brain tumors are the most common type of cancer that occurs in children. Cancer found in the brain often has started somewhere else in the body and has spread (metastasized) to the brain. This overview covers childhood ependymoma, a type of tumor that starts in the brain (primary brain tumor).

Childhood ependymoma is a type of tumor that arises from cells that line cavities within the brain. Approximately 10 percent of all childhood brain tumors are ependymomas. The cause of most brain tumors is not known.

If your child has symptoms that may be caused by a brain tumor, such as severe headaches, frequent vomiting, difficulty walking, or being excessively sleepy, his or her doctor may order a computed tomographic (CT) scan, a diagnostic test that uses computers and x-rays to create pictures of the body. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, a diagnostic test that is similar to a CT scan but that uses magnetic waves instead of x-rays, may also be performed.

Often, surgery is needed to determine whether there is a brain tumor and what type of tumor it is. The doctor may surgically remove a small sample of the tumor tissue and examine it under a microscope. This is called a biopsy. Sometimes a biopsy is done by making a small hole in the skull using a needle to extract a sample of the tumor.

A child's treatment and chance of recovery (prognosis) depend on the type and size of tumor, where it is located within the brain, and his or her age and general health.

This page was last updated on: May 14, 2009.