THE ROLE OF CHEMOTHERAPY IN CHILDHOOD MEDULLOBLASTOMA

Twenty-five children, most of them with high risk medulloblastoma, wer e treated at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center between 1982-1992. All pat ients had surgical resection and craniospinal irradiation followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Nine of them were treated with the CCSG protoco l and 16 with the ''eight in one'' protocol. The two- and five-years a ctuarial survival rate of the 25 patients was 63 % and 45 %, respectiv ely. There was no statistical difference between the two chemotherapy regimens (p = 0.05). The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in the multimod al approach to medulloblastoma patients is discussed.