With advances in medical science driving progress against childhood brain tumors, today three out of four young patients survive at least five years beyond diagnosis. However, the outcomes look grim when malignant cells spread, or metastasize.

Such is the case with medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer that arises in the cerebellum, at the back of the head. Although rare in absolute terms — about 350 cases emerge each year, 60% of them in children — medulloblastoma is the most common and deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. Metastasis to the lining of the brain or spinal cord is responsible for virtually all deaths from the disease.

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