Primary pineal malignant melanoma.

Primary pineal malignant melanomas are a rare subset of primary central nervous system melanomas. This report presents the case of a 20-year-old female patient with a primary pineal region malignant melanoma who underwent endoscopic biopsy and adjuvant therapy. Her treatment consisted of stereotactic radiation to the pineal tumor, conventional whole-brain radiation and Temodar(R) for the disseminated disease.

Brainstem gliomas.

Introduction: Brainstem gliomas have historically been one of the most difficult pediatric cancers to treat. Tumors arising in the brainstem were once uniformly discounted as surgically unresectable lesions. Early neurosurgeons thought this location to be inoperable and fraught with disaster.

Toxicity of intracranial and intraperitoneal O6-benzyl guanine in combination with BCNU delivered locally in a mouse model.

Purpose: The DNA-repair protein, O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyl transferase, may account for resistance of CNS tumors to DNA-alkylating drugs, such as bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU). The therapeutic effects of BCNU can be potentiated by inhibiting the repair protein with an alkylated guanine analog, O6-benzyl guanine (O6BG). To investigate potential toxicity of this inhibition, we examined the effects of O6BG in mice treated with intracranial (i.