There are different types of treatment for children with heart tumors.
Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment.
Because cancer in children is rare, taking part in a clinical trial should be considered. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Treatment of Childhood Heart Tumors
For information about the treatments listed below, see the Treatment Option Overview section.
Treatment of childhood heart tumors may include the following:
- Watchful waiting, for rhabdomyoma, which sometimes shrinks and goes away on its own.
- Targeted therapy (everolimus) for patients who have rhabdomyoma and tuberous sclerosis.
- Chemotherapy followed by surgery (which may include removing some or all of the tumor or a heart transplant), for sarcomas.
- Surgery alone, for other tumor types.
- Radiation therapy for tumors that cannot be removed by surgery.