At Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the team of doctors, researchers and pediatric-trained specialists provide integrated, comprehensive care for children with brain tumors.

Barun Brahma, M.D., Tobey MacDonald, M.D. and researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are collaborating on several research projects for pediatric brain tumors. As a national leader among childhood cancer programs in the country, the Aflac Cancer Center and Children's Neurosciences Program are dedicated to giving patients and families the education, resources and support they need. Visit choa.org/braintumor to learn more.

Pediatric brain tumor patients have a particular advantage when coming to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia because of the extensive experience of our neurosurgeons and the close collaboration between neurosurgery, neuro-oncology, radiation oncology and diagnostic radiology. When operating on a brain tumor, the goal of CHOP's neurosurgery team is to be aggressive in removing as much of the cancer as possible, while being careful not to damage delicate structures in the brain. Our surgeons take the best of the standard care that is available to brain tumor patients, and push that standard to the next level to improve on existing surgical approaches. If there is a treatment here that's not available elsewhere, like a research protocol or proton beam therapy, we'll recommend the patient be treated at CHOP. But in those cases where our oncologists recommend the same treatment a patient could receive at their local hospital, we'll recommend that they stay close to home, and work with the outside physician to coordinate a treatment plan with an outside physician.

Dr. Angela Mattke, pediatrician, Dr. Amulya Nageswara Rao, Director of Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinic and pediatric neuro-oncologist, and Dr. Nadia Laack, pediatric radiation oncologist, talk about proton beam therapy to treat children with brain tumors

Courtney Dunn, PT DPT, recently led a clinical study which showed that children with both NF1 and reduced muscle tone (hypotonia) were more likely to have brain tumors than were children with NF1 and normal muscle tone. These findings inspired the current prospective study to determine whether a diagnosis of hypotonia can be used to identify children with NF1 most likely to have brain tumors. Your participation involves being evaluated by Dr. Dunn as a part of your routine visit to the NF Clinical Program at St. Louis Children's Hospital.