Glioblastoma Treatment
Glioblastomas are primary brain tumors, which means they are a cancer that begins or originates in the brain as opposed to spreading to the brain from another source in the body. Glioblastomas tend to spread and grow rapidly throughout the brain and can be difficult to treat. Treatment depends on how advanced the tumor is and where in the brain it is located.-
Surgery
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Two major types of surgery are performed to remove glioblastomas. The first is a craniotomy, which is an open skull procedure. The doctor opens the skull and uses a scalpel to remove some or all of the tumor. Generally, this is only possible if the tumor is in an accessible location within the brain. One alternative to a craniotomy is a new procedure that involve the use of ultrasonic waves to remove the tumor. This procedure, called ultrasonic aspiration, uses ultrasound waves to fragment the tumor, which is then removed with a suction device. Regardless of whether the tumor is removed by a craniotomy or ultrasonic aspiration, BCNU polymer wafer implants may be implanted in the tumor's former location to release chemotherapy drugs.
Radiation
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Radiation may be used to destroy cancer cells that can't be accessed and removed by surgery. It is risky because it may kill healthy brain tissue near the site of the tumor. However, radiation is helpful to kill cancer cells that linger after surgery, tumors that are too large to be removed by surgery or cancer cells that are spreading throughout the brain. Intensity modulated radiation therapy is the form of radiation typically administered for glioblastoma, usually on a regular basis (sometimes daily) for several weeks. Generally, radiation is not recommended for children, whose brains are still developing.
Chemotherapy
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Chemotherapy is used as an alternative to radiation in children, and in some cases used in adults in conjunction with surgery or radiation or both. Some glioblastomas respond better to chemotherapy than to radiation, so treatment methods vary. As a general matter, the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain from receiving toxic materials from the blood may prevent systemic chemotherapy (delivered intravenously through the blood stream) from reaching the brain.
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