Stay Strong For Carter Foundation

Carter Pierzchalski

Todd Pierzchalski and Kimberley Garrett-Pierzchalski's son Carter is an 18-month old boy that was recently diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT). Since April, Carter has undergone 3 brain surgeries to stabilize him. Carter recently began a 12-15 month treatment plan. Carter’s treatment plan will consist of chemotherapy that will last 3-4 days and will reoccur every 21 days. After the 2nd round of chemotherapy is complete, Carter will undergo proton beam radiation. Proton beam radiation will be every day, Monday through Friday, for six weeks. After proton beam radiation is complete, chemotherapy will resume until Carter is cured.

About AT/RT

According to Wikipedia, AT/RT is a rare tumor usually diagnosed in childhood. Although usually a brain tumor, AT/RT can occur anywhere in the central nervous system (CNS) including the spinal cord. About 60% will be in the posterior cranial fossa (particularly the cerebellum). One review estimated 52% posterior fossa, 39% sPNET (supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors), 5% pineal, 2% spinal, and 2% multi-focal.[1]

In the United States, three children per 1,000,000 or around 30 new AT/RT cases are diagnosed each year. AT/RT represents around 3% of pediatric cancers of the CNS.[2] Around 17% of all pediatric cancers involve the CNS; it is the most common childhood solid tumor.[citation needed] The survival rate for CNS tumors is around 60%; with AT/RT it is around 10%. Pediatric brain cancer is the second leading cause of childhood death, just after leukemia. Recent trends suggest that the rate of overall CNS tumor diagnosis is increasing by about 2.7% per year. As diagnostic techniques using genetic markers improve and are used more often, the proportion of AT/RT diagnoses is expected to increase.

Because it is highly malignant, AT/RT has a high mortality rate. A survey of 36 AT/RT patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from 1984 to 2003 showed that the two-year event-free survival for children under three was 11%, with an overall survival rate of 17%. For children aged 3 years or older, the event-free survival was 78% and the overall survival 89%.[3] Because most patients with AT/RT are less than three years old (71% in St Jude Study), the overall prognosis for AT/RT is very poor.

Current research is focusing on using chemotherapy protocols that are effective against rhabdomyosarcoma in combination with surgery and radiation therapy.