JPA/PLGA Brain Tumor Fact Sheet

• JPA/PLGA, the most common form of childhood brain tumor that can happen to children and young adults at any time.

• JPA/PLGA can be life threatening depending on the tumor's location. Because JPA/PLGA can be located near centers for vital signs, thought, emotion, movement and sensory development, the side effects of chemo therapy and radiotherapy can be devastating. Children can also experience critical, long-term neurologic impairments and side effects from current treatments.

• Families of children with JPA/PLGA tend to be optimistic, holding false hopes that research advances are progressing rapidly, but such is not the case.

• JPA/PLGA has been critically under-researched, and currently there is little funding identified for research for JPA/PLGA.

• With new scientific advances, accelerating research investigations to find more effective therapies for JPA/PLGA is quite realistic according to experts.

• The time for generating JPA/PLGA specific research funds is now, as time is what these children cannot afford.

Fact sheet reviewed by Paul Graham Fisher, M.D., Associate Professor, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery, The Beirne Family Director of Neuro-Oncology at Packard Hospital, Stanford University, Dr. Roger Packer, Chairman, Department of Neurology, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, Deborah La Fond, PNP, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, and Mark Kieran, M.D., PhD., Director of Pediatric Medical Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Asst. Professor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School Fact sheet reviewed by Paul Graham Fisher, M.D., Associate Professor, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery, The Beirne Family Director of Neuro-Oncology at Packard Hospital, Stanford University, Dr. Roger Packer, Chairman, Department of Neurology, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, Deborah La Fond, PNP, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, and Mark Kieran, M.D., PhD., Director of Pediatric Medical Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Asst. Professor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School.