How to treat glioma

  The treatment of glioma is based on surgical resection of the tumor, combined with a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Surgery can relieve clinical symptoms, prolong survival, and obtain sufficient specimens for definitive pathological diagnosis and molecular biology studies. The decision to perform surgery for glioma requires consideration of many factors, such as the patient’s age, physical status, number and location of tumors, whether the tumor is new or recurrent, the time since the previous surgery, the presence of other non-neoplastic diseases, the advantages and disadvantages of surgery versus non-surgery, and the expected survival period. The general principle of surgical resection is to remove the tumor safely to the maximum extent, i.e., to obtain maximum tumor removal with minimal tissue and nerve function damage.  In addition, radiotherapy can kill or inhibit residual tumor cells and prolong patient survival, and divided external radiation therapy has become the standard of care for high-grade gliomas. Because gliomas are characterized by in situ recurrence and 90% occur within 2 cm of the primary site, optimized local radiotherapy regimens can be chosen. Systemic chemotherapy can be administered as a single agent and in combination with multiple agents.  The treatment of glioma requires multidisciplinary cooperation, an individualized and comprehensive treatment approach, and optimized and standardized treatment protocols to prolong the survival of patients and improve the quality of survival as much as possible.