Diagnosis and treatment of glioblastoma

  Glioblastoma is the most malignant glioma among astrocytic tumors and is a WHO grade IV tumor. The tumor is located in the subcortex and grows infiltratively, often invading several lobes and deep structures, and may spread to the opposite hemisphere via the corpus callosum. Glioblastoma can be primary in the brain parenchyma or secondary. The majority of secondary glioblastomas arise from further malignant transformation of mesenchymal astrocytomas, while a few may arise from mixed gliomas, oligodendrogliomas or ventricular meningiomas.  The most common sites are frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe, thalamus, and basal ganglia.  Clinical manifestations: headache, mental changes, weakness of limbs, vomiting, impaired consciousness, speech impairment.  CT: The tumor is a mixed density lesion with unclear boundary, in which there is mostly high density due to intra-tumor hemorrhage, but less calcification, and low density due to intra-tumor necrosis and cystic changes, which makes its morphology polymorphic. The ventricles are often compressed, deformed or closed, and the midline structures are often shifted to the opposite side. After enhancement, 95% of the tumors show inhomogeneous enhancement. 2. MRI: The tumor shows low signal on T1-weighted image and high signal on T2W image with poorly defined tumor shadow, which is not easily distinguished from adjacent brain tissue. The corpus callosum is often involved. The contrast enhancement of the tumor is very significant after Gd-DTPA injection, which makes a clear demarcation between the tumor and the neighboring structures.  Treatment: Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other combination treatments are the mainstay. Surgery should be performed to remove as much tumor as possible without aggravating the neurological dysfunction. Expanding the scope of tumor resection can not only effectively decompress the tumor, but also reduce the incidence of neurological complications by decreasing postoperative cerebral edema.