Study of Tomotherapy in Patients With Benign Brain Tumour

Although malignant brain tumors are the most common type of primary brain tumor, there are a number of other benign brain tumors that exist. Many difficulties exist with treating these tumors that have led to controversies in the best treatment. A common issue among these brain tumors is the risk of long term side effects from treatment. What limits the use of curative radiation therapy is the ability to deliver a maximal dose to the tumor while minimizing the amount of radiation to the normal structures in the brain. A new method of delivering radiation, called tomotherapy, has been acquired at the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) and will be used in this study. It has the ability to deliver a high dose of radiation to the tumor while minimizing the amount of radiation to normal brain structures. This study will use this method of radiation therapy to deliver radiation and see if the long term side effects from radiation therapy can be reduced.

Inclusion Criteria: Histopathologically confirmed newly diagnosed base of skull benign tumour Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) equal to or greater than 70 Exclusion Criteria: Brain metastases or recurrent tumour Prior radiotherapy (RT) to head or neck No prior chemotherapy or radiosensitizer