Treatment of glioma radiation in the brain

  Glioma is the most common malignant tumor of the brain. According to the pathological and immunohistochemical characteristics, the World Health Organization classifies the malignancy of glioma into 4 grades, namely WHO grade I glioma; WHO grade II glioma; WHO grade III glioma and WHO grade IV glioma. The higher the grade, the more malignant the tumor. grade III and IV gliomas are malignant and highly malignant gliomas, while grade I and II gliomas are less malignant gliomas.          Treatment of gliomas: Surgery is the treatment of choice for malignant gliomas, and radiation therapy and chemotherapy are often required after surgery. New strategies for radiotherapy of glioma are highlighted below.  After surgery for malignant glioma, conventional radiotherapy (or conformal radiotherapy, or conformal intensity-modulated radiotherapy) is usually given, or radiotherapy and chemotherapy are given simultaneously, with chemotherapy continuing after radiotherapy is completed. Can the advent of radio wave knife change the traditional radiotherapy? The exploratory treatment of some cases in the Radiofrequency Knife Treatment Center of Huashan Hospital is illustrated by examples.  Case 1, a female patient, had a tumor growing in the right occipital lobe. The tumor was surgically removed in the neurosurgery department of Huashan Hospital. After surgery, the patient was given 20 times of conventional radiotherapy at 2Gy each, with a total dose of 40 Gy. After radiotherapy, the tumor was locally irradiated with a radio-wave knife. The patient was very satisfied with the results of treatment. Thirteen months after surgery (11 months after radio-wave knife treatment), the tumor completely disappeared. However, at 17 months after surgery, the tumor recurred in situ and was treated again with radiofrequency knife, irradiating 5 times with 6 Gy each time. 2 years after surgery, a new lesion appeared at the tumor site, which was considered to be radiation necrosis, and continued to be observed. 2.5 years after surgery, another surgery was performed to remove the lesion, and the pathology after surgery was radiation brain necrosis. At 3.5 years after surgery, the MRI was repeated and no tumor recurrence was seen. The patient has now survived for more than 4 years.   Glioma of the right occipital lobe, image before surgery. Post-surgery pathology confirmed glioblastoma Image at the time of radio-wave knife treatment after conventional radiotherapy, with a large area of radio-wave knife irradiation (4Gy x 5 times) 11 months after radio-wave knife treatment, repeat MRI showed tumor disappearance 17 months after surgery for glioblastoma, tumor recurred in situ, treated again with radio-wave knife (6Gy x 5 times) 2 years after surgery, new lesions appeared at the tumor site, MRI bop analysis considered as 2.5 years after surgery, the lesion increased in size and was operated on again to remove the lesion. 3.5 years after surgery, MRI was repeated and no tumor recurrence was observed. The patient has survived for more than 4 years. The conventional radiotherapy dose for glioblastoma is 60Gy, which is converted to an isobiological dose (BED) of 72Gy, and the conventional radiotherapy dose for some glioblastoma patients is 58Gy, which is converted to an isobiological dose (BED) of 69.6Gy. The conventional radiotherapy dose of 40Gy is converted to an isobiological dose (BED) of 48Gy, and the radiofrequency knife irradiation is 5 times. This biological dose is higher than the dose of conventional radiotherapy alone, which is the dose received at the edge of the tumor, and the dose received inside the tumor is much higher than this dose. The central dose of radiofrequency knife treatment for this patient was 26.6Gy, which was converted into an equivalent biological dose (BED) of 40.8Gy, i.e., the equivalent biological dose received within the tumor increased from 76Gy at the periphery of the tumor to 88.8Gy at the center, which was much higher than conventional radiotherapy, and the dose received by the surrounding brain tissue was lower than conventional radiotherapy. After a small recurrence of the tumor, the tumor was treated with radioactive wave knife again, and irradiated 5 times with 6Gy each time, which was converted into an isobiological dose (BED) of 48Gy. radiotherapy combined with 2 radioactive wave knife treatments, the tumor received a dose of 124 (BED) Gy. such a high radiation dose could completely kill the glioblastoma locally, while causing partial necrosis in the surrounding brain tissue.  We propose: 20 conventional radiotherapy sessions of 2 Gy each, followed by combined radio-wave knife to give local high dose irradiation to the tumor. This combined treatment shortens the treatment time and facilitates the killing of malignant glioma, which may benefit more patients with glioblastoma.