Linked Life Data

12762886

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/12762886

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6
pubmed:dateCreated
2003-5-23
pubmed:abstractText
Malignant gliomas are among the most challenging of all cancers to treat successfully, being characterized not only by aggressive proliferation and expansion but also by inexorable tumor invasion into distant brain tissue. Although considerable progress has been made in the treatment of these tumors with combinations of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, these efforts have not been curative. Neurosurgeons as oncologists have increasingly turned their attention to therapies on a molecular scale. Of particular interest to neurosurgeons is the ability to deliver therapy locally to the tumor site or to take advantage of existing immunological mediators, enhancing drug concentrations or therapeutic cell numbers while bypassing the blood-brain barrier to maximize efficacy and minimize systemic toxicity. Exciting local-therapy approaches have been proposed for these devastating tumors. In this review, we discuss the potential applications of bioreactors, neural stem cells, immunotherapies, biodegradable polymers, and convection-enhanced drug delivery in the treatment of malignant gliomas. These approaches are at different stages of readiness for application in clinical neurosurgery, and their eventual effects on the morbidity and mortality rates of gliomas among human patients are difficult to ascertain from successes in animal models. Nevertheless, we are entering an exciting era of "nanoneurosurgery," in which molecular therapies such as those discussed here may routinely complement existing surgical, radiological, and chemotherapeutic approaches to the treatment of neuro-oncological disease. The potential to deploy any of a number of eloquently devised molecular therapies may provide renewed hope for neurosurgeons treating malignant gliomas.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jun
pubmed:issn
0148-396X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
52
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1411-22; discussion 1422-4
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2003
pubmed:articleTitle
The neurosurgeon as local oncologist: cellular and molecular neurosurgery in malignant glioma therapy.
pubmed:affiliation
Brain Tumor Laboratories and Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review