BACKGROUND: Primary brain tumors are among the ten most common causes of cancer-related death. There is no screening test for them, but timely diagnosis and treatment improve the outcome. Ideally, treatment should be provided in a highly specialized center, but patients reach such centers only on the referral of their primary care physicians or other medical specialists from a wide variety of fields. An up-to-date account of basic knowledge in this area would thus seem desirable, as recent years have seen major developments both in the scientific understanding of these tumors and in clinical methods of diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: Selective search of the pertinent literature (PubMed and Cochrane Library), including the guidelines of the German Societies of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Radiotherapy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Modern neuroradiological imaging, in particular magnetic resonance imaging, can show structural lesions at high resolution and provide a variety of biological and functional information, yet it is still no substitute for histological diagnosis. Gross total resection of gliomas significantly improves overall survival. New molecular markers can be used for prognostication. Chemotherapy plays a major role in the treatment of various different kinds of glioma. The median survival, however, generally remains poor, e.g., 14.6 months for glio-blastoma.
BACKGROUND:Primary brain tumors are among the ten most common causes of cancer-related death. There is no screening test for them, but timely diagnosis and treatment improve the outcome. Ideally, treatment should be provided in a highly specialized center, but patients reach such centers only on the referral of their primary care physicians or other medical specialists from a wide variety of fields. An up-to-date account of basic knowledge in this area would thus seem desirable, as recent years have seen major developments both in the scientific understanding of these tumors and in clinical methods of diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: Selective search of the pertinent literature (PubMed and Cochrane Library), including the guidelines of the German Societies of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Radiotherapy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Modern neuroradiological imaging, in particular magnetic resonance imaging, can show structural lesions at high resolution and provide a variety of biological and functional information, yet it is still no substitute for histological diagnosis. Gross total resection of gliomas significantly improves overall survival. New molecular markers can be used for prognostication. Chemotherapy plays a major role in the treatment of various different kinds of glioma. The median survival, however, generally remains poor, e.g., 14.6 months for glio-blastoma.
Authors: Matthew J McGirt; Kaisorn L Chaichana; Frank J Attenello; Jon D Weingart; Khoi Than; Peter C Burger; Alessandro Olivi; Henry Brem; Alfredo Quinoñes-Hinojosa Journal: Neurosurgery Date: 2008-10 Impact factor: 4.654
Authors: Nasuda Danchaivijitr; Adam D Waldman; Daniel J Tozer; Christopher E Benton; Gisele Brasil Caseiras; Paul S Tofts; Jeremy H Rees; H Rolf Jäger Journal: Radiology Date: 2008-04 Impact factor: 11.105
Authors: Michael Weller; Jörg Felsberg; Christian Hartmann; Hilmar Berger; Joachim P Steinbach; Johannes Schramm; Manfred Westphal; Gabriele Schackert; Matthias Simon; Jörg C Tonn; Oliver Heese; Dietmar Krex; Guido Nikkhah; Torsten Pietsch; Otmar Wiestler; Guido Reifenberger; Andreas von Deimling; Markus Loeffler Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2009-10-05 Impact factor: 44.544
Authors: Dirk Vordermark; Oliver Kölbl; Klemens Ruprecht; Giles H Vince; Klaus Bratengeier; Michael Flentje Journal: BMC Cancer Date: 2005-05-30 Impact factor: 4.430
Authors: Erik S Mittra; Hua Fan-Minogue; Frank I Lin; Jason Karamchandani; Venkataraman Sriram; May Han; Sanjiv S Gambhir Journal: Clin Cancer Res Date: 2013-08-27 Impact factor: 12.531
Authors: Kien Pham; Defang Luo; Dietmar W Siemann; Brian K Law; Brent A Reynolds; Parvinder Hothi; Gregory Foltz; Jeffrey K Harrison Journal: Cancer Lett Date: 2015-02-09 Impact factor: 8.679
Authors: Arno Lotar Cordova; Taynná Vernalha Rocha Almeida; Cintia Mara da Silva; Pedro Argolo Piedade; Cristiane Maria Almeida; Carlos Genesio Bezzera Lima; Carolina Dutra; Rafael Martins Ferreira; Marcelo Neves Linhares; Valeriy Denyak Journal: Rep Pract Oncol Radiother Date: 2018-03-17