Active clinical trials for "Ependymoma"

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving radiation therapy in different ways and giving it together with more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known which radiation therapy and combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective in treating medulloblastoma, supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), or ependymoma. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying six different radiation therapy and combination chemotherapy regimens to compare how well they work in treating young patients with medulloblastoma, PNET, or ependymoma.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in treating patients with recurrent ependymomas following radiation therapy.

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of stereotactic radiosurgery in treating patients who have brain tumors.

Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of erlotinib in treating patients who have metastatic or unresectable solid tumors and liver or kidney dysfunction. Biological therapies such as erlotinib may interfere with the growth of tumor cells and slow the growth of the tumor

This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of erlotinib when given with temozolomide in treating young patients with recurrent or refractory solid tumors. Erlotinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving erlotinib with temozolomide may kill more tumor cells.

This phase II trial is studying irinotecan to see how well it works in treating children with refractory solid tumors. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

The overall aim of this study is to prospectively characterize social health disparities in a cross-sectional cohort of glioma patients with attention to exploring and thematically categorizing the patient-specific and community-level factors. This will be conducted in two parts.

This clinical trial studies yoga therapy in treating patients with malignant brain tumors. Yoga therapy may improve the quality of life of patients with brain tumors

This study proposes to treat patients with the combination of erlotinib and temozolomide. Patients with relapsed, recurrent, refractory, or high risk malignancies whose tumors possess a non-synonymous mutation in EGFR, ERBB2, or JAK2V617F (JAK2) will be eligible for the study. Very few phase 2 clinical trials have been performed in pediatrics using targeted agents in combination with conventional chemotherapy agents. Furthermore, since some combinations such as the combination of this study (erlotinib and temozolomide) have shown additive/synergistic effects in preclinical studies, therapy selecting for those patients who possess mutations targeted by the TKI of the study, may unveil activity that has not been previously observed. Thus, the investigators hope to determine whether the addition of additive/synergistic chemotherapy will increase efficacy of target agent and/or increase tumor susceptibility to targeted agent resulting in increased anti-tumor activity.

The investigators hypothesize that this study will show that sufficient lymphocyte stem cell can be harvested prior chemoradiation and be reinfused back after treatment, and at least 5 of the 10 patients (50%) will achieve an absolute increase of lymphocyte counts of 300 cells/mm^3 four weeks after stem cell reinfusion in high grade glioma patients.