Current Trends in Chemotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumor Essay

Current Trends in Chemotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumor - Essay Example Due to this, medical professionals have designed alternative chemotherapy treatments that seek to address the side effects generated by the standard chemotherapy and improve the overall health of the pediatric patients. However, the effectiveness of the new trends such as metronomic therapy, circumventing the blood-brain barrier, and application of Bevacizumab monotherapy, raises interesting questions such as whether they can effectively handle the challenge of eliminating malignancies without posing greater threats to pediatric patients. Additionally, since the new methods are under experimental trials, their future is dependent on their efficacy, which has not yet been established. Cancer is one of the biggest challenges facing health care on a global basis. The impact of controlling the disease has affected the world economy. The American Cancer Society report that the annual costs of cancer in 2009 were estimated to be over $216.6 billion where $86.6 billion was spent on direct medical costs whereas $130 billion was spent on indirect mortality. The American Cancer Society indicates that over 1,600 people die each day due to cancer complications. Brain tumor is the second most common cancer and the most frequent solid tumor in childhood, which account for 4.3 cases per 100,000 in the US (Gottardo & Gajjar, 2008). This paper will conduct an in-depth analysis of cancer in pediatric patients, giving special focus to brain tumors and the emerging chemotherapy treatment trends being administered to fight cancer in pediatric patients. According to Cabrera and Schub (2014), the most common brain neoplasms in children, and medulloblastoma, which account for 20-30% of all brain tumors in pediatric population. Although childhood cancer is relatively uncommon, the disease is still a persistent issue among the cancer patients it affects. Childhood Cancer states that Cancer is the second leading