Intraspinal high-grade astrocytoma in a child--rationale for chemotherapy and more intensive radiotherapy?

Intraspinal high-grade astrocytoma in children is an extremely rare tumor entity with disappointingly short survival times despite multimodality treatment. We report on a girl with anaplastic astrocytoma at level T9-11, who was treated with tumor resection, multidrug chemotherapy and irradiation. Local recurrence was diagnosed after 16 months. With reference to other cases reported in the literature, the course of disease, achievements and limitations of currently available therapeutic options, and potential future strategies are discussed.