Long-term outcome and reconsideration of intracystic chemotherapy with bleomycin for craniopharyngioma in children.

OBJECT: We first reported postoperative intratumoral chemotherapy with bleomycin for craniopharyngiomas in 1985. However, this local bleomycin chemotherapy has not yet been used very frequently. It seems to be necessary for us to report long-term outcome and reconsideration of this treatment.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Local bleomycin chemotherapy was performed on 7 children (to 1985) and 11 children (from 1988 to 2004). A total of 11 pediatric patients with recurrent cystic craniopharyngioma was treated by intracystic injection of bleomycin after 1988 and followed up from 3 to 16 years. After 1985, 1 of 7 children whose clinical outcome was fair underwent intracystic injection of bleomycin again. This patient has never had recurrent tumor until now. The children whose clinical outcomes were excellent have no recurrence during follow-up from 21 to 26 years. After 1988, the results showed that cystic recurrences of 7 children have almost disappeared and the children have achieved a good school life, and 3 children are also achieving a good life after additional stereotactic radiosurgery.

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that local bleomycin chemotherapy is effective and that recurrence does not occur after follow-up, which ranged in duration from 3 to 16 years.