Since the diagnosis of Ted Kennedy with a malignant glioma, the focus has again turned to brain tumors. Let me discuss in this post a little about malignant gliomas. Glioma are one of the most common primary brain tumors. They are called gliomas because the tumor arises from the glial cells (the tumor does not arise from neuronal cells, rather from glial cells which form the structural supporting cells in the brain).

The WHO (world health organization) grades gliomas into 4 classes:

1) Grade I and II gliomas: are also what are called low grade gliomas. These are slow growing tumors, usually seen in the younger age groups. As they are slow growing, they are less malignant and compatible with a longer survival. They ususally present clinically with a seizure (when they irritate the underlying brain) or when they grow in size and become large, they present with mass effect (the mass and bulk of the tumor presses on surrounding structures and patients may present with weakness on one side). How are low grade gliomas treated?

Treatment of low grade gliomas; as these tumors are slow growing, they are at times amenable to surgical resection. This is because these tumors are usually well encapsulated and its margins are well defined. So in children or adults, if we catch these tumors in time and if the tumor does not involve the eloquent cortex (parts of the brain which subserve speech, or control the hand and leg movements), one may be able to resect the entire tumor out enbloc. In some patients, that is all what may be needed and we usually like to avoid radiation in children ( since radiation has its own problems and may cause cognitive deficits in the young child later on). You doctor may also put you on an anti-seizure medication for a short while to prevent you from having seizures.

Grade III and IV gliomas: or high grade gliomas. This includes glioblastoma multiforme or GBM. Since these tumors are high grade, they are usually fast growing and invade the surrounding brain tissue. Hence it is impossible to resect the entire tumor out usually. Even if you resect the entire tumor you see macroscopically (that is with the naked eyes), the tumor has already caused microscopic metastasis and spread in the brain. Here in lies the fact why these tumors are so hard to treat and patients usually have a poor prognosis. In the best centers in the world, we treat these tumors with a combination of surgery ( try to debulk the tumor and remove some of it and decrease the pressure in the brain), radiation (you may either radiate just the tumor or irradiate the entire brain to prevent metastatic spread) and chemotherapy. Radiation and chemotherapy may either be used concurrently  to supplement each other or one after the other. Again usually these tumor present at first with seizures and your doctor may start you on an anti-epileptic drug to prevent it.

I shall build on this discussion in my next post. Enjoy the weekend everyone, it is a beautiful day here in NYC.

Personal Regards,

Nitin Sethi, MD