More or less? Treatment strategies in childhood craniopharyngioma

Excerpt

Craniopharyngioma is an embryogenic malformation which clinically imposes as an intracranial tumor. In spite of low-grade histological malignancy and good overall survival rate, patients with childhood craniopharyngioma frequently suffer from adverse late effects mainly related to hypothalamic involvement, reducing quality of life, and long-term prognosis. In spite of hormonal substitution, the management of hypothalamic injury-induced hyperphagia is difficult, and severe obesity occurs postoperatively in up to 52% of patients, with at least one half of these patients having extreme difficulty controlling their desire to eat. Conventional weight control strategies are less efficient because of impaired physical activity due to attendant neurological and visual deficits and the complaint of increased daytime sleepiness by some patients. …