What happens to a child with DIPG is the child will often live less than a year although very few children with DIPG live longer than 2 years with DIPG.
The symptoms of DIPG tend to appear quickly and often within weeks or months as the DIPG tumor grows and places pressure on the child's brainstem.
Common symptoms of DIPG in children are problems with balance and coordination, weakness in the legs and arms, slurred speech, difficulty in controlling facial expressions and difficulty in swallowing and chewing.
Other symptoms of DIPG in children are vision problems such as lazy eye, drooping eyelids, double vision and o ther symptoms such as headaches that often get worse in the morning, hearing problems, vomiting and nausea.
The DIPG tumor's rapid growth leads to a worsening of the symptoms and the neurological functions that are controlled by the brainstem are also severely affected.
DIPG stands for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma and is a highly aggressive and rapidly growing brain tumor in children.
And sadly the prognosis of DIPG brain tumors in children is very poor with a median survival time of less than a year.
Treatments are available for treating DIPG in children although there's no cure for DIPG.
Treatments such as radiation therapy which is the primary treatment for DIPG can only slow down the growth of the DIPG tumor and is not effective in all cases.
Children that have DIPG are also often enrolled in clinical trials which can help to explore any new and experimental treatments for DIPG.
Treatment for DIPG mainly focuses on managing the symptoms and optimizing quality of life for the child and providing supportive care for the child and family.
Early diagnoses and treatment are crucial in slowing down the progression of DIPG and children that have DIPG also require a multidisciplinary team of specialists, which include pediatric neuro oncologists, radiation oncologists and even palliative care professionals.