PREOPERATIVE CHEMOTHERAPY WITH CARBOPLATIN ALONE IN HIGH-RISK MEDULLOBLASTOMA

Few studies have been carried out regarding preoperative chemotherapy utilized in the treatment of primitive neuroectodermal tumors/medullob lastomas (PNET/MB). In this paper, the authors report 3 cases of child ren under three years of age, with a presumed diagnosis of PNET/MB, wh o were preoperatively treated with chemotherapy consisting of high dos es of carboplatin alone. The treatment improved the childrens' clinica l condition prior to surgery and facilitated tumor removal, resulting in partial regression of the tumor. The preoperative single-drug thera py did not affect the histological diagnosis or prevent the presence o f an effective degree of tumor sensitivity to the drug. All three chil dren are still disease-free, after a mean follow-up period of 42 month s.