What is a glioblastoma?

Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor, his prognosis is very dark and the protocol established pretreatment is still considered palliative. However, the change varies from one subject to another. Age, neurological deficits, aggressiveness and tumor progression have to keep in mind ...

Glioblastoma is a cancerous brain tumor that develops at the expense of the central nervous system cells called astrocytes. This tumor usually sits in the cerebral hemispheres, and development quickly become a very large tumor.

This type of brain cancer affects more frequently between the ages of 45 and 70 people (one peak to the sixties), and certainly remains the most serious.

It differs essentially:

- The primary glioblastoma

- The secondary glioblastoma, which usually develops from the evolution of a benign tumor into a malignant tumor. The evolution is slower in a transformation of a glioblastoma astrocytoma.

Signs presented by patients are highly variable and depend on the particular location of the tumor, its evolution. In general, a glioblastoma begins with neurological deficits, but are nevertheless not specific to the tumor:

- Headaches

- Disturbances of vision

- Difficulties with concentration and memory, personality disorders

- Seizures simulating seizures

These signs are usually signs of compression, inflammation and irritation of the brain due to the development and extension of the tumor. The tumor may also develop without specific symptoms.

The diagnosis of glioblastoma is usually established after a CT scan and MRI. The tumor can not be accessible to biopsy. However, pathological examination of confirmation can be made after surgical resection of the tumor.

The treatment is based on a protocol of care pre established:

- The surgery is performed in the first time, a total excision of the tumor is often impossible because of its location and volume

- Radiation therapy is then performed after surgery

- Chemotherapy uses temozolomide (a newly authorized and listed since 2000 in France molecule)

- Several sessions of radio-chemotherapy are then recommended

- In case of recidivism, the resumption of chemotherapy with Avastin-Campto can be proposed.

In these treatments may involve supportive medical treatments such as anticonvulsants / antiepileptics, or corticosteroids.

The management of glioblastoma is very delicate and requires the intervention of a multidisciplinary team.

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor with a poor prognosis, often associated with high mortality. This type of tumor often gives local metastases (and rarely distant metastases), in the brain itself (including infiltration in the gray matter). Indeed, cancer cells of glioblastoma are not particularly stable, and genetic specificity varies considerably from one patient to another. Where ineffective treatments currently available.

Treatments are generally considered palliative and even surgical resection combined with chemotherapy does not guarantee a cure. Recurrence is common, but a new surgery with chemotherapy is not necessarily curative either. In addition, surgical reoperation depends primarily on the condition of the patient, age, as well as any associated diseases. The prognosis is also all the more reserved when it comes to a person, or a patient with signs of severe neurological deficits.

In addition, chemotherapy is a therapeutic technique that the side effects are sometimes not tolerated in the elderly: fatigue, weight loss, anemia, immune deficiency, hair loss, nausea, ...

Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor. The survival rate at five is very low (less than 10%) and without treatment, the survival rate is estimated at 3-4 months on average.

The treatment increases the survival rate of a few months, which is estimated between 1-2 years on average. Patients exceeding this period often have abnormalities such as hydrocephalus. The tumor also causes cerebral edema causing an increase in intracranial pressure. These are conditions that usually result in death.