Current management of choroid plexus carcinomas

Abstract

Choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC) is a World Health Organization (WHO) grade III brain tumor with a poor prognosis that occurs mainly in children. Gross total resection of CPC is highly recommended and is associated with improved overall survival, although it is often associated with increased morbidity. The use of adjuvant therapies has yet to be standardized, although evidence suggests that for patients with incompletely resected CPCs, a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be beneficial. The use of radiation therapy for younger children (<3 years old) with CPC, however, is not recommended, due to the potential negative neurological sequelae associated with radiation to the developing brain. Given that the majority of CPC patients are young children, questions regarding optimal radiation dose, chemotherapy agents, and how to combine these two adjuvant treatment modalities to achieve the best outcomes remain unanswered. In this paper we summarize the current management of CPC in the literature. Further studies are needed to standardize the treatment paradigm for this malignant brain tumor.