Endovascular therapies for malignant gliomas: Challenges and the future

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Malignant gliomas are very difficult tumors to treat, with few effective therapies, early progression and high rates of recurrence. Here we review the literature on malignant gliomas treated with endovascular therapy. Endovascular therapy for malignant gliomas falls into one of three categories: (1) neoadjuvant embolization and devascularization; (2) direct intra-arterial drug delivery; and (3) disruption of the blood-brain barrier for improved intra-arterial drug delivery. There is a range of therapeutic benefits based on the endovascular intervention used. Challenges remain for those who aim to treat malignant gliomas with an endovascular approach. Specifically, embolization is difficult to accomplish in the small vessels that feed into malignant gliomas, and intra-arterial chemotherapy has yet to prove itself better than traditional intravenous chemotherapy. However, there exists promise in the therapeutic potential of intra-arterial chemotherapy paired with disruption of the blood-brain barrier at tumor-specific sites, and as such, continued research to optimize this approach is expected to yield benefit for patients with malignant gliomas.

Publication Date

4-1-2016

Publication Title

Journal of Clinical Neuroscience

ISSN

09675868

E-ISSN

15322653

Volume

26

First Page

26

Last Page

32

PubMed ID

26857294

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.jocn.2015.10.019

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS