Sloan is one of nine students selected as a finalist in her age category for the National Braille Challenge. Very impressive, especially when you consider Sloan’s been living with a brain tumor most of her young life.
After suffering a traumatic brain injury during a car crash in 2018, Ben, 16, continues to recover and now wants to use his story to help others during Brain Injury Awareness Month in March.
The Children’s Minnesota Spina Bifida Clinic brings together several specialty services to meet the complex needs of patients with spina bifida. The multidisciplinary clinic provides care to patients from across the upper Midwest from infancy through young adulthood.
After months of feeling the effects of a concussion, Tate's family brought him to see a neurologist where they found out he had a brain tumor. Learn more about his recovery here.
February 2, 2017 8 a.m. – February 28, 2017 9 a.m., St. Paul
This week's grand rounds will feature:
January 1, 1970, 12 a.m. – 12 a.m., St. Paul
This week's grand rounds will feature:
Before you can understand about brain and spinal tumors, it’s helpful to understand the anatomy of the brain and spine and how they function.
An optic pathway glioma is a subset of low grade astrocytoma that grows in a portion of the optic pathway (optic nerve, optic chiasm, optic radiations). Optic gliomas typically grow as an infiltrative lesion with poorly defined borders. Because they are infiltrative they often extend and involve the entire optic pathway. They also frequently extend into adjacent structures, such as the hypothalamus. Optic chiasmatic and hypothalamic gliomas are often considered a single entity because of their ability to infiltrate into both compartments regardless of the site of origin of the tumor. These tumors originate from astrocytes, which are star-shaped brain cells. Astrocytes are a type of glial cell which function to support the surrounding cells. Optic pathway/hypothalamic gliomas account for 4-6% of all brain tumors in children and 30% of all pediatric gliomas. The peak incidence is during the first decade of life.
Germ cell tumors (GCTs) arise from primordial germ cells that did not migrate appropriately during embryonic development. Residual primordial germ cells deposited in the brain give rise to intracranial germ cell tumors. These residual primordial germ cells tend to be located in the midline of the body; therefore intracranial germ cell tumors typically originate in the suprasellar or pineal region. Rarely GCTs originate in other midline intracranial locations including the basal ganglia, thalamus, and ventricles. Intracranial germ cell tumors are twice as likely to be located in the pineal region compared to the suprasellar region. Approximately 5-10% of cases have “bi-focal” disease, defined as simultaneous involvement of the suprasellar and pineal region. Intracranial germ cell tumors mainly occur in adolescents and young adults (peak incidence is 10-12 years of age) and are more commonly seen in boys. These tumors have the capacity to spread (metastasize) through the spinal fluid (leptomeningeal spread).