Observation of Young Patients Who Are Undergoing Surgery for Craniopharyngioma

Overview

RATIONALE: Collecting information on how craniopharyngioma is diagnosed and treated may help doctors predict a patient's response to treatment and help plan the best treatment. It may also help identify the intermediate- and long-term effects of treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is collecting information on diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life of young patients who are undergoing surgery for craniopharyngioma.

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Identify all applied therapy strategies in pediatric patients with craniopharyngioma. * Correlate relapse status with different therapy strategies/modality in these patients. * Determine the health status (i.e., ophthalmologic, neuropediatric, and endocrine findings) and the health-related quality of life of these patients after treatment. Secondary * Determine the incidence of craniopharyngioma in pediatric patients. * Identify quality control measures for diagnosis and therapy in these patients. * Improve long-term care through a standardized follow-up program in these patients. * Determine the efficacy of endocrine substitution for postoperative hypopituitarism in these patients. * Identify risk factors for developing obesity and correlate the neurotransmitter concentration of leptin and neuropeptide Y in cerebral spinal fluid, serum, and craniopharyngioma cystic fluid with the likelihood of developing obesity in these patients. * Determine the incidence and extent of eating disorders in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients undergo neurologic, endocrine, and ophthalmologic tests and anthropometric diagnostic measurements. Patients then undergo 1 of the following surgical procedures: total resection; incomplete, subtotal, or partial resection; biopsy; or cyst pressure release. Patients whose tumor relapses may undergo a second resection and/or radiotherapy. Quality of life is assessed at baseline and then periodically thereafter. After surgery, patients are followed periodically. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 120 patients will be accrued for this study.