Marrow-ablative chemotherapy followed by tandem autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AuHCT) in pediatric patients with malignant brain tumors.

2049 Background: In an effort to both improve cure rates and quality of survival in young children with malignant brain tumors, irradiation-avoiding or at least minimizing marrow-ablative chemotherapy with AuHCT has been incorporated in both up-front as well as recurrent therapies. To decrease the toxicity of single cycle marrow-ablative chemotherapy regimens, and possibly enhance cure through overall dose intensification, use of fractionated multiple (tandem) cycles of marrow-ablative chemotherapy with AuHCT has been explored. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we investigated the outcome of children with malignant brain tumors treated with marrow-ablative chemotherapy and tandem AuHCT at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles between June 1999 and July 2012. Results: Forty-four children (24 males) with a median age of 7.1 years (range 0.6- 19.0 years) with malignant brain tumors were studied. Twenty-one had medulloblastomas/primitive neuro-ectodermal tumors, 8 atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors, 5 high-gr...