Can radiotherapy for glioma make the tumor go away?

Can radiotherapy for glioma make the tumor go away?  Is radiotherapy effective for glioma?

Some glioma patients can be effectively controlled on the image through radiotherapy. Through radiotherapy, some tumors can disappear on the image, but the disappearance of the tumor on the image does not mean that the tumor is cured. Regular review is still needed to increase and consolidate the curative effect. , Chemotherapy is needed when the condition requires it.

What are the common brain injuries after radiotherapy?

Radiation encephalopathy is divided into three stages: early acute reaction, early delayed reaction, and late delayed reaction.

Early acute reaction: usually occurs in the first few days after radiotherapy, with headache, fever, drowsiness and the original local symptoms aggravated. The acute reaction is reversible. After dehydration and glucocorticoid treatment, the symptoms can be reduced or disappeared, and the prognosis is good.

Early delayed response: Appears within a few weeks to several months after treatment. Depending on the location of the brain radiation, corresponding clinical symptoms will occur, such as headache and drowsiness, which may be accompanied by deterioration of the original disease. Generally, it can recover on its own. Lethal. Glucocorticoids can improve the condition.

Late-onset reactions: Most appear several months or years after radiotherapy, the shortest is 2 months, the longest can be up to 25 years, and most are 1 to 2 years. The incidence is between 1.2% and 5%, including local radiation necrosis and diffuse radiation brain injury.

Pathological changes are divided into two types: atrophic type and dilated type. The former is more common in patients undergoing whole-brain radiotherapy. It is diffuse radiation brain injury. The clinical manifestations are brain dysfunction, namely low intelligence, poor memory, cognitive impairment, mental abnormality, and slow response , Gait disorder, but no increase in intracranial pressure; the latter is local radioactive brain necrosis, mainly increased intracranial pressure, plus focal signs, such as hemiplegia, aphasia or accompanied by brain dysfunction, low intelligence, if it occurs The primary tumor site in the brain is not easy to distinguish from tumor recurrence and deterioration.

A person with a rapid deterioration may die within a few months, or it may gradually aggravate, irreversibly, and even develop into a vegetative state, which may also lead to a state of exhaustion, leading to death.

What kind of radiation encephalopathy needs to be removed again by craniotomy?

For dilated radiation necrosis, the lesion can be surgically removed to remove the necrotic tissue, relieve the pressure, and improve the blood circulation around the lesion. Postoperative drug treatment can promote the improvement of the condition. If the necrosis is extensive and is an important functional area, decompression with bone plate should be added.

What should I do if radiotherapy for glioma is ineffective or recurs?

Regarding this issue, INC Professor Bart Langfei said: Even if we have excellent treatment, after excellent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, patients may still experience that the tumor is recurring.

When encountering this situation, we usually always evaluate first, is it possible to do a second operation? If possible, do it. Because the smaller the number and volume of tumors in the brain, the better the result and the better for the patient.

So this will be an evaluation option. According to the results of the evaluation, a second operation is possible. This will be the first step, and then the next question, is there a possibility of follow-up radiotherapy? In many cases, yes. This is not always the case. It depends on the dose and location, and on the time between the last radiotherapy and tumor recurrence.

This is also a possibility, and then we can do the same chemotherapy as before, or we can change the way of chemotherapy.

So we have many possibilities, we will evaluate all the possibilities, but within a very reasonable range, because we have various gliomas, various tumor sizes, different parts of the tumor and different extensions of the tumor, so these Factors play an important role in the decision-making process.

(source:internet, reference only)

Disclaimer of medicaltrend.org