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Overview
Tumour Group: | Non-Malignant Brain Tumours |
WHO Grade: | Grade I |
Prevalence/Incidence: | Craniopharyngiomas account for 1.2 – 4.6% of all intracranial tumours. |
Typical Age Range: | They are most common in children aged 5 to 15 years and adults aged 45 to 60 years. |
Contents
Description of Tumour
Symptoms
Treatment / Standard of Care
Prognosis
References
A tumour that usually develops near the pituitary gland (a small endocrine gland at the base of the brain). Craniopharyngiomas are intracranial tumours that are typically both cystic and solid in structure.
Craniopharyngiomas are often not discovered until they press on important surrounding structures.
Common symptoms include, but are not necessarily limited to:
A prognosis is an estimate of the likely progress of a disease after a diagnosis, based on an average patient group. Since every person is different, please take time to talk with your health care team about how this information applies to you.
By clicking on 'Expand,' a statistic on the prognosis for craniopharyngiomas will be shown.
For brain tumour patients, a prognosis depends on several factors, which can include age and other health issues, the size of the tumour, its molecular profile, the type of tumour, how much can be removed and its response to treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Craniopharyngiomas are generally considered Grade I and tend to have the most favourable survival rates compared to other higher grade brain tumours. After either open or endoscopic surgery, sometimes also using radiation therapy, patients with craniopharyngiomas can have long-term survival but recurrences are possible and repeated treatments necessary.
Adult Brain Tumour Handbook 6th Edition. Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. 2012.
Louis, David N. WHO Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous System. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2007. Print
Non-Malignant Brain Tumour Handbook. Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. 2011.
Image credited to [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
You can also download this information as a Information Sheet on Craniopharyngioma (pdf).
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