Craniopharyngiomas are benign midline tumors that have a propensity for
local recurrence and are ideally curable via total surgical resection. Many survivors
suffer from behavioral, cognitive, endocrine, hypothalamic, and visual disturbances.
Optimal management remains highly controversial. In this chapter, we reviewed the
therapy strategies for Craniopharyngiomas including surgery, radiotherapy and
chemotherapy. Complete resection is even more important in children, especially those
younger than 3 years, because of the additional morbidity associated with radiotherapy
during early childhood. The aim of radiotherapy is to achieve long-term disease control
in patients lacking complete removal or with recurrent tumors. Systemic chemotherapy
has rarely been reported in terms of craniopharyngioma management. Local
intratumoral chemotherapy for craniopharyngioma was used to treat difficult, recurrent
cystic tumors and has subsequently been employed as a strategy to avoid late-term
effects of surgery or radiotherapy. The roles of all therapies should be balanced
according to factors such as the patient’s age, the tumor size and location, and prior
treatment.
Keywords: BRAF, Chemotherapy, Craniopharyngiomas, Radiotherapy, Surgery.
