A glioma is a type of primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor that arises from glial cells. The most common site of involvement of a glioma is the brain, but they can also affect the spinal cord, or any other part of the CNS, such as the optic nerves.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of gliomas depend on which part of the central nervous system is affected. A brain glioma can cause headaches, nausea and vomiting, seizures, and cranial nerve disorders as a result of increased intracranial pressure. A glioma of the optic nerve can cause visual loss. Spinal cord gliomas can cause pain, weakness or numbness in the extremities. Gliomas do not metastasize by the bloodstream, but they can spread via the cerebrospinal fluid and cause “drop metastases” to the spinal cord.

Pathology

High grade gliomas are highly vascular tumors and have a tendency to infiltrate. They have extensive areas of necrosis and hypoxia. Often tumor growth causes a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier in the vicinity of the tumor. As a rule, high grade gliomas almost always grow back even after complete surgical excision.

On the other hand, low grade gliomas grow slowly, often over many years, and can be followed without treatment unless they grow and cause symptoms.

Treatment

Treatmentfor brain gliomas depends on the location and the grade. Often, treatment is a combined approach, using surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. The radiation therapy is in the form of external beam radiation or the stereotactic approach using radiosurgery. Spinal cord tumors can be treated by surgery and radiation. Temozolomide is a chemotherapeutic drug that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier effectively and is being used in therapy.

Experimental Therapies

Gene therapy using lytic viruses or prodrug converting retroviruses and adenoviruses is being studied for the treatment of gliomas.

A small number of low-scale clinical studies have shown possible links between prescription of Carphedon and improvement in a number of encephalopathic conditions, including lesions of cerebral blood pathways and certain types of glioma.

American scientists are also studying the the affects of Leiurus Quinquestriatus scorpion (Israeli Yellow Scorpion) venom on glioma. They have successfully isolated the peptide chlorotoxin from the venom of the Leiurus Quinquestriatus scorpion by means of gel filtration chromatography. The peptide appears to target glioma-specific chloride ion channels within the cancerous glial cells of the brain, where it binds with a high affinity. Only eight people have received this treatment and seven of them are still living.