Dr. Mark Souweidane Discusses Innovative Treatments for Pediatric Brain Tumors, Including Choroid Plexus Carcinoma
Recent Interview with Dr. Mark Souweidane Features Clinical Trial for Choroid Plexus Carcinoma
The first patient has been successfully treated on a new Phase 1 Clinical trial led by Dr. Mark Souweidane, “Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy for Newly Diagnosed, Residual, or Recurrent Atypical Choroid Plexus Papilloma (ACPP) and Choroid Plexus Carcinoma (CPC) Prior to Second-L00k Surgery.”
Atypical choroid plexus papilloma (ACPP) and choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC) are both primary brain tumors that present in the ventricles of the brain. Removing these tumors through surgery has the best outcome for patients with ACPP or CPC, but there are often complications during surgery.
This study explores whether a single dose of inter-arterial (IA) chemotherapy is safe for patients with these tumors. It also aims to better understand if IA chemotherapy would reduce the size/volume of the tumor, reduce blood loss during surgical removal of ACPP or CPC, and to see if pre-surgical IA chemotherapy would improve the likelihood of successful surgical removal of the tumor.
In a recent Q&A with Dr. Souweidane, he shares his candid thoughts on what led him and his colleague, Dr. Pierre Gobin, to try this unique strategy on such a rare pediatric brain tumor. In this excerpt, he shares his excitement about the first trial participant, Aiden.
“Getting Aiden through the surgery was incredibly exciting. There was negligible blood loss without any need for blood transfusion, and he came out looking like a superstar. He remained in the hospital for a few days of monitoring and then was released to go home and back into the care of his local oncologist. Today, Aiden is doing great. He’s been deemed no evidence of disease going into adjuvant therapy. This alone, provides him with the best prognosis for durable control and potential cure. Of course, his is family is thrilled. He’s back in school. He has a long road ahead of him but from where he was when he came here to how he is doing now, I don’t think that anyone expected he would be doing so well.”
The full interview is featured on the main website for New York Presbyterian Hospital. You can read it via the link below.