Significant response to targeted treatment with alectinib for
intramedullary pediatric spinal high-grade glioma with ALK fusion
Abstract
Intramedullary spinal cord high-grade gliomas are rare and almost always
fatal pediatric tumors. The current treatment paradigms are surgery, and
radiotherapy. This is the first description of a toddler with an
intramedullary cervical high-grade glioma harboring an anaplastic
lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion (KIF5B) whose treatment with the ALK
inhibitor, alectinib, achieved clinical and radiological evidence of
complete remission after six months of treatment. Our findings suggest
that ALK inhibitors may emerge as an effective therapy in malignant
spinal tumors with a dismal prognosis.