Researchers have found there are seven types of the most common malignant child brain cancer – paving the way for more precise and ‘kinder’ treatments.
Medulloblastoma affects about 70 to 80 children a year in the UK and requires intensive treatment including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. That can leave children with life-altering injuries.
The breakthrough, reported in the Lancet Oncology, means targeted treatments could be developed and some of the side-effects avoided.
Prof Steve Clifford, who is presenting the research at the Children with Cancer UK’s Scientific Conference on Monday, said that in future children might not need to go through such aggressive treatment.