Treatment of Glioma


1)What is glioma?

2)Investigation for Glioma.

3) Management for Glioma

4) Surgery for Glioma

5) Post-operative Care

6) Treatment of Glioma

  1. Chemotherapy
  2. Radiotherapy
  3. Hyperthermia
  4. Immunotherapy
  5. Photodynamic therapy
  6. Gene therapy

Radiation therapy

Postoperative radiation therapy is generally an effective adjunct to surgery in the treatment of higher-grade gliomas. It has been shown to double the median survival for high-grade gliomas to 37 weeks. Radiation treatment is planned to optimize the homogeneity of the radiation dose throughout the tumour volume selected and to minimize high dose regions in normal brain transited by the radiation beam. The size of the daily radiation fraction is related to the incidence of complications and a maximal daily dose is usually between 1.8 and 2.0 gray. The total radiation dose varies depending on the tumour type, location and size of field, but for gliomas it is usually between 45 and 60 gray. Opinion varies regarding the tissue volume that should be treated for malignant glioma but radiation to the tumour area and a ‘generous volume’ of surrounding brain is now advocated, rather than radiation to the whole brain. The selection of the proper radiation dose for gliomas is as controversial. Although increasing the radiation dosage from 50 to 65 gray does slightly improve survival, the higher dose of radiation therapy, especially over 65 gray, significantly increases the risk of brain necrosis