Anti-seizure drug fights aggressive childhood brain tumors, study shows

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Add as preferred source Credit: Pietro Jeng from Pexels An existing anti-seizure drug slows the growth of a devastating group of childhood cancers, new Stanford Medicine-led research has shown. The tumors, called diffuse midline gliomas, strike the brain and spinal cord. They affect 300 to 400 U.S. children per year and have a five-year survival rate of about 1%.

The study, published Sept. 17 in Nature Medicine , showed that a medication called levetiracetam slows the tumors' growth by unplugging their electrical connections to healthy neurons.