Dear Editor:We read with interest a recent paper published by Yang et al. The authors reported their institutional experience of 15 grade II spinal cord ependymomas in children [1]. Gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in 12 cases. The remaining three underwent subtotal resection (STR) followed by radiotherapy (RT). While no tumor recurrence occurred in the GTR group, residual tumor regrowth was observed in two STR cases. Consequently, the author concluded that postoperative radiotherapy should be considered carefully due to uncertain therapeutic efficacy.We agree with the authors that there is a paucity of published data on the use of adjuvant radiotherapy in children with grade II/III spinal ependymomas. Pediatric intraspinal ependymomas are considered more aggressive than their adult counterparts [2]. All efforts must be made to achieve GRT [3]. It is generally agreed that RT is not necessary if the tumor has been removed completed [4]. In adults, progression-free survival (PFS) has been shown to be significantly prolonged among those who received RT after STR in a meta-analysis [5]. However, the role of RT after STR is controversial. We reviewed the literature on pediatric patients with grade II/III spinal ependymoma and found 13 cases that were subtotally resected (Table 1) [4, 6-12]. The median age was 9 (range 1 to 20). There were 5 males and 8 females. All except three were located in the lower spinal cord (thoracic, lumbar, and conus). Ten received adjuvant RT with an average dose of 40 Gy. The rate of local recurrence in those who received RT was 40 % (4/10), while two of the three who did not receive RT had local recurrence. The median PFS was 68 months. For the three patients who had information on further treatment after local recurrence, two received STR followed by RT and postsalvage recurrence occurred in both cases. The other patient received RT only and experienced no recurrence. The median follow-up was 92 months. All patients were alive at the last followup except two. One received RT and the other one did not.Contrary to the opinion of Yang et al., our review of the literature suggests that there may be some evidence for beneficial effect of RT after STR in pediatric grade II/III intraspinal ependymomas. Because of the rarity of this tumor in the pediatric population, potentially different tumor biology between children and adults, and the risks of RT on the developing nervous and osseous tissues, we recommend a multi-institutional trial to investigate the role of RT after STR in the local control of these tumors and its effect on patient survival.