How glioma should be treated

       According to statistics, the number of new cases and deaths of CNS tumors are on the rise year by year. Glioma is the most common primary CNS tumor, accounting for about 40% of CNS tumors and 78% of malignant CNS tumors in adults. Gliomas originate from glial cells and are derived from neuroectoderm. The World Health Organization classifies gliomas into 4 grades, of which grades III and IV are collectively referred to as malignant gliomas, accounting for 77.5% of all gliomas. Among malignant gliomas, the most common are mesenchymal glioma (AG) and glioblastoma (GBM), with AG being grade III and GBM being grade IV. AG includes three subtypes, namely, mesenchymal astrocytoma (AA), mesenchymal oligodendroglioma (AO), and mesenchymal oligodendro-astrocytoma (AOA). Compared to GBM, the incidence of AG is lower. According to statistics, AA accounts for 6.7% of gliomas and AO accounts for 5% to 10% of gliomas.  Malignant glioma is one of the most destructive tumors, with rapid growth, infiltrative destruction of brain tissue, significant peripheral edema, more pronounced local symptoms, and prone to progressive worsening neurological dysfunction, eventually leading to patient death. With the development of medicine, the treatment level of glioma has been improved, and adjuvant treatment after surgical removal of tumor can prolong the survival of patients. The treatment of malignant glioma requires joint cooperation through multidisciplinary approach. In the past 20 years, neuroimaging, surgical and radiotherapy techniques have been greatly enhanced and improved, and researchers have deepened their understanding of the pathogenesis of malignant glioma at the molecular level. Some progress has been made in the treatment of malignant glioma, but it is still not optimistic, and some patients still have recurrence even after treatment.  Currently, the median survival period for glioblastoma is 12 to 15 months, for mesenchymal glioma is 2 to 5 years, and for low-grade glioma is 4 to 10 years.  In addition, a group of gliomas should be monitored, namely gliomas of limbic system origin. These include gliomas originating from the amygdala, insula, cingulate gyrus, and septum, which are low-grade gliomas with low malignancy and slow growth. Patients with these gliomas have intermittent epileptic seizures as their main manifestation and are not easily detected.  ”Surgery + postoperative radiotherapy has been the recommended treatment for malignant glioma. Since glioma is prone to recurrence, surgery is only an important part of the treatment process. For patients with high malignancy (glioma grade III and IV), postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy are also required to reduce recurrence. Postoperative radiotherapy combined with other treatments is the direction to break the treatment bottleneck, especially combined with chemotherapy, which can prolong the survival of glioma patients.  Temozolomide capsule (trade name “Tiqing”) is a new type of oral second-generation alkylating agent, which was marketed in China in 2004. It is a derivative of imidazotetrazine, with rapid and complete oral absorption, high bioavailability, good central nervous system permeability, and significantly lower toxicity than the first-generation nitrosoureas. Its main mechanism of anti-tumor is cytotoxic effect, which is achieved through mechanisms such as methylation and base mismatch repair failure of tumor cell DNA. In the treatment of glioblastoma, temozolomide combined with radiotherapy has improved efficacy and survival compared with radiotherapy alone, with significant improvement in clinical symptoms in about 53% of patients and an overall survival rate of 46% at 6 months, and temozolomide combined with concurrent radiotherapy can increase the 2-year survival rate from 10.4% to 26.5%. Temozolomide capsules with concurrent radiotherapy is an effective treatment for patients with glioblastoma and facilitates recovery, and therefore the drug is recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for the first-line treatment of malignant glioma after surgery.