- These are tumors that arise from the brain itself and specifically from the support cells of the brain, the glia and not the nerve cells themselves (neurons)
- Their origin involves a genetic disturbance affecting the cell cycle
- These tumors tend to infiltrate and spread through the normal brain.
- Gliomas are classified in 4 grades depending on their histologic appearance. The higher the grade, the more aggressive, infiltrative and fast growing these tumors are.
- Treatment
- Multimodal treatment is necessary
- Combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation
- Extent of surgical resection significantly impacts overall survival
- The challenge for neurosurgeons is to resect as much tumor as it is safely possible and achieve the balance between maximal tumor resection while avoiding neurologic deficits
- Sometimes the tumor location is too deep or the tumor is too infiltrative or located in a region of the brain that does not allow the safe resection of the tumor. In those cases a Stereotactic Brain Biopsy is performed in order to obtain necessary tissue to allow further treatment with chemotherapy and radiation.
Primary Brain Tumors
