Treatments for ependymoma

The following are treatment options for ependymoma. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery is the standard treatment for ependymomas. These tumours don’t usually grow into the surrounding tissues, so surgery can often remove all or most of the tumour.

Find out more about surgery for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. It may be offered for ependymomas if there is still part of the tumour remaining after surgery, or as the main treatment if surgery can’t be done.

Radiation may be given to the whole brain and the spinal cord because ependymomas can spread to the cerebrospinal fluid.

Find out more about radiation therapy for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. It is rarely given for ependymomas because this type of tumour does not respond to treatment with chemotherapy drugs. It may be offered if the cancer is not responding to any other treatments used.

Find out more about chemotherapy for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Corticosteroids and antiseizure medicines (anticonvulsants) may be offered to help lessen the symptoms caused by ependymomas and their treatment.

Find out more about corticosteroids and antiseizure medicines.

Recurrent ependymoma means that the cancer has come back after it has been treated. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

There are no standard treaments for recurrent ependymoma. Treatment will depend on what treatments you had before, where the tumour has come back, and your overall health. You may be offered the following treatments for recurrent ependymoma.

• surgery
• radiation therapy
• chemotherapy

You may want to consider a type of care to make you feel better without treating the cancer itself. This may be because the cancer treatments don’t work anymore, they’re not likely to improve your condition or they may cause side effects that are hard to cope with. There may also be other reasons why you can’t have or don’t want cancer treatment.

Talk to your healthcare team. They can help you choose care and treatment for advanced cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with brain and spinal cord tumours in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.