Microsurgery for malignant gliomas.

Reflections directly involving the ongoing, intense research activities in biology, the neurosciences and in neurosurgery are discussed including the evolving diagnostic and treatment modalities of primary and secondary malignant gliomas of the central nervous system. The etiology of this enigmatic disease remains obscure, and a curative therapy is still not available. Nevertheless, as a result of changing paradigms in neuroanatomy, neuropathology, neurophysiology, neuroradiology and in neurosurgery, and taking into account the broader selection of adjuvant therapies available, well circumscribed malignant gliomas, which are in predilected compartments of the brain, can be efficiently resected. Good life quality and a respectable survival time are achieved in the majority of patients.