The Brain Tumor Center at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center is a world-renowned destination for children with malignant and non-malignant brain and spinal cord tumors. Our patients receive care from neurologists, neuro-oncologists, neurosurgeons, and pediatric subspecialists with extensive expertise in the conditions we treat.
Dana-Farber/Boston Children's offers patients the most advanced diagnostics and treatments available, including:
- access to a range of clinical trials
- intraoperative MRI which enables surgery on brain tumors and obtain multiple images to ensure maximal tumor removal without the need for multiple surgeries
- access to New England’s only pediatric PET (positron emission tomography) scanner and PET fusion imaging to help guide treatment decisions
- specialized programs providing world-class treatment of low- and high-grade gliomas and medulloblastoma
- expert second opinions for complex medical questions or decisions regarding a new diagnosis or treatment plan for your child
- innovative brain tumor clinical trials for improving outcomes and reducing recovery times
When appropriate for treatment, we also can refer your child locally for proton beam therapy.
Our brain tumor specialists
For each of our patients, we assemble an individualized team of pediatric brain tumor specialists who work together to develop recommendations for the most appropriate treatment. A typical brain tumor patient care team will include neuro-oncologists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, radiation oncologists, and other subspecialists with deep expertise in the specific types of brain tumors they treat.
Types of childhood brain tumors
If your child is diagnosed with a brain tumor, you will learn there are many different brain tumor types and classifications based upon the tumor’s cell structure, composition, rate of growth, location, and other characteristics. The name and classification of the tumor may change as your doctor gains new information about your child’s brain tumor or if the tumor changes over time.
The types of brain tumors most common in children are not the same as those most common in adults. Childhood brain tumors frequently appear in different locations and behave differently than brain tumors in adults.
Learn about specific types of brain tumors.
Our brain tumor treatment programs
The Brain Tumor Center at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center features two world-class treatment programs offering patients deep expertise and advanced therapies for specific conditions. Each program features an authority in his/her area of expertise as well as teams of subspecialists and nurses with focused training and years of proven experience.
Medulloblastoma Program
Patients with medulloblastoma come to Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Medulloblastoma Program from around the globe to get treated by brain tumor specialists and pediatric subspecialists with specific and advanced expertise in treating these rare but invasive tumors.
Glioma Program
The Glioma Program at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's is the largest of it's kind in the world.
Brain tumor clinical trails
Our research and clinical trials have made us a leader in improving survival rates for hard-to-treat pediatric brain tumors like medulloblastoma and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT). We also were the first pediatric hospital to install a mobile “intraoperative MRI,” which allows surgeons to obtain images while the patient is still under anesthesia and to perform further procedures as needed.
Search brain tumor trials by condition
Search clinical trials by condition or to learn more, email us at clinicaltrials@danafarberbostonchildrens.org
