Researchers have identified glioblastoma biomarkers in extracellular vesicles that could enable a liquid biopsy, serving as a more efficient and less invasive means of detecting and subtyping this cancer. The most aggressive type of brain tumor, glioblastoma has a poor survival rate and limited treatment options. While it can currently be diagnosed through tumor biopsies, this method can be time consuming, invasive, and painful. There is a need to develop more effective options for detecting gli...

One of the significant contributors to glioblastoma, a cancer of the brain and one of the most aggressive malignancies, tumor-associated macrophages have great potential as therapeutic targets; however, targeting these cells has not been effective, in part due to a limited understanding of the reasons behind their behavior. Researchers seeking to better understand this behavior have now discovered that tumor-associated macrophages are composed of two cell types: brain-resident microglia and bone...

Children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors have good prognoses; 75% will live at least five years after diagnosis. Unfortunately, a recent study has shown that these survivors experience neuropsychological problems and lower socioeconomic status later in life compared with their healthy peers. For this study, published in Cancer, the researchers analyzed data on 181 adult survivors of pediatric low-grade gliomas from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and compared them with a group of 10...

Electrosurgical resection, a common neurosurgery technique done with an electric knife or diathermy blade, produces surgical smoke, called diathermy smoke, from the burning of tissue during the procedure. Researchers in Finland have developed a device that can identify cancerous brain tissue based on properties of the diathermy smoke. This device could enable a surgeon to more quickly and accurately identify malignant tissue during brain cancer surgery in order to ensure that all parts...

​ For patients with gliomas, tumors that begin in the glial cells of the brain and spinal cord, fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) can improve the extent of surgical resection by enabling neurosurgeons to better see the margins of the malignancies that they are trying to remove. A recent study has revealed that when used with a new, high-sensitivity near-infrared camera, tozuleristide (BLZ-100) provides effective imaging for FGS in adults with newly diagnosed or recurrent gliomas. The high-sensit...