Childhood Brain Cancer Awareness Day, September 26: Medulloblastoma


Sunday 26 September 2021 is the third annual Childhood Brain Cancer Awareness Day in Australia.

Every year Childhood Brain Cancer Awareness Day will focus on a different strain of the disease, this year the spotlight is on medulloblastoma.

Medulloblastoma/PNET is the most common brain tumour of childhood, representing 20% of all childhood brain tumours. They are most common in children between the ages of three and eight, and are slightly more common in boys than girls.

According to Royal Children’s Hospital The majority of these tumours arise in what is referred to as the posterior fossa region of the brain. This area includes the area at the lower back of the head. Often Medulloblastomas are referred to as a PNET (Primitive Neuroectodermal tumour). These can arise in the posterior fossa, but are also common in other regions of the brain, including the pineal gland and cerebrum. Medulloblastomas/PNETS have the potential to spread (metastasise) to the spinal column via the cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid surrounding the brain and spine. Like other childhood brain tumours, they rarely spread outside the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) to other organs of the body.

We will be featuring young people with medulloblastoma on our social media later this week. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the know.

To help us to continue funding research projects to change the odds for young people with brain cancer, donate here