MALIGNANT GLIOMA

Malignant Glioma General Information

Malignant Gliomas are very common primary brain tumors because they are fast growing and represent the second most common cause of cancer death for the people between 16 - 40 years old. They appear in the spinal cord tissue or in the brain and they only spread within in the nervous system (not to other areas of the body). These brain tumors can be difficult to treat successfully. The perspective for patients suffering of Malignant Gliomas is alarming because of the rate of survival: for those with moderately severe gliomas is four to six years and for patients with the most aggressive form (glioblastoma multiform), the survival rate is less than a year. Good news is that modern technology enables specialists to target the tumors more precisely, while developing treatment is increasing the hope for the future.

Diagnosing Malignant Gliomas is hard because it involves nonclassic lesions that are difficult to classify by histological particularities. It also demands several steps. In the clinics, a physician performs a neurological examination. He is checking the patient’s balance, hearing, coordination, reflexes and vision. Only after all these procedures the specialist may demand other additional exams. A C.T. scan (computed tomography) produces a two-dimensional detailed image of the brain. An MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging) also produces images of the brain, but using magnetic fields. Both these methods require a special dye injected into the bloodstream for distinguishing the tumor from the healthy tissues. The tumor type is confirmed by a biopsy.

Malignant Glioma Symptoms

Malignant Gliomas affect over 9.000 adults in the U.S. every year. Depending on which part of the central nervous system is affected, the symptoms may vary. Visual loss can be caused by a glioma of the nerve. Increased intracranial pressure can cause cranial nerve disorders, seizures, nausea, vomiting, and headaches. Spinal cord gliomas are represented by insensibility in the extremities, weakness, and pain. Gliomas can cause "drop metastases" to the spinal cord because they spread via the cerebrospinal fluid but they do not metastasize by the bloodstream. In some cases, the lengths of time over which the symptoms have occurred demand a brain scan. If an abnormality is observed on the scan, the patient should refer to a neurosurgeon. Owing to the characteristic appearance on scans, neurosurgeons may suspect the diagnosis without a biopsy. Therefore, the treatment of a brain tumor is not approved without confirmation by surgery.

Metastatic disease although rare, usually occurs within the neuraxis, but can spread to the spleen, lung, liver, peritoneum and lymph nodes. In most cases the patient has previously suffered a craniotomy. Many patients diagnosed with metastatic spread of a primary intracranial tumor do not survive more than six months. At the time of surgery, some tumor cells can not be completely removed, so Malignant Gliomas reappear near or in the same place of the first surgery after a few months after the treatment. If the patient presents acute signs and symptoms, removing the tumor for the second time or even for the third time it is also very probable. Also, for these persons, the investigation should be done earlier.

Malignant Glioma Treatments

The problem with Glioma is it never disappears, it is just minimized, because after the intervention, the cells do not stop growing and multiplying. A variety of therapies for Malignant Glioma have been tested among which the gene therapy and the use of various immunotherapeutic strategies. The treatments for a Malignant Glioma depend on the location, size and tumor type and also the patient’s health and particularly, age. Depending on the complexity of the tumor, there are a variety of methods and techniques for treating Malignant Glioma. In order to prevent or reduce swelling and inflammation of the brain tissue, a steroid medication may be needed. Seizures may be controlled or prevented using anticonvulsants. The first and the most important treatment method is the surgery because it consists in removing as much of the tumor possible and avoiding any damage to the healthy tissues. This surgery is also known as craniotomy since the surgeons cuts some skull bone to reach to the brain. After the tumor is removed, the surgeon replaces the bone and then sews up the incision in the scalp. The main goal of this kind of surgery is to remove as much, if not at all, off the tumor as possible. Sadly, some Malignant Gliomas can not be completely removed, not even partially. In this case, all that the specialists have to do is to supervise the slow growing tumor.

A modern craniotomy, the computer assisted tumor removal, permits the neurosurgeons to plan better the procedure after the model of the tumor obtained by impressive computer imagining techniques. The many advantages of this surgery give people the courage to decide faster for an operation. Some of the advantages are: less blood loss, the smallest incision, less pain, less injury to the brain tissue, the possibility to remove more complex tumors. Radiations are often used after a surgery in order to destroy any remaining tumor cells using high-energy. It is also needed in the cases when surgery is not possible or at high risks. The therapy using radiations consists in daily treatments for maximum of ten weeks. Patients who are alive after six months of therapy with radiations suffered severe tiredness after the treatment and presented permanently loss of function that appeared after a time and remained. These may be adverse effects of an increased radiation dose. Another efficient way to kill tumor cells is by taking drugs intravenously or by mouth. Because there is always the possibility for the tumor to recur if tumor cells are not completely destroyed, most of the Malignant Gliomas are treated with a combination of treatments. A very promising treatment is the one with stem cells and it represents an important therapy method and progress in the strategies of curing Malignant Gliomas.