Malignant gliomas are the most common subtype of primary brain tumor – and one of the deadliest. Even as doctors make steady progress treating other types of solid tumor cancers, from breast to prostate, the most aggressive form of malignant glioma, called a glioblastoma multiforme or GBM, has steadfastly defied advances in neurosurgery, radiation therapy and various conventional or novel drugs.
Results of a Phase IIb study, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting 2010, showed a clear clinical benefit from trabedersen, a TGF-beta inhibitor, in patients with high-grade glioma; the Phase III study SAPPHIRE (NCT00761280) is currently enrolling.
"Current therapies for this patient population include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy with temozolomide," said...
Pregnant Woman Undergoes “Kinder, Gentler” Brain Surgery at Saint John’s Health Center Neuroscience Institute by Surgeons Using Brain Port Device
April 19, 2010 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A unique device developed to make brain surgery easier and less traumatic has been successfully used on a patient who was pregnant and suffering from a potentially life-threatening brain cyst. The device, called a “Brain Port,” was pioneered by...
BCM: Baylor College of Medicine
Graciela Gutierrez
713-798-4710 ggutierr@bcm.tmc.edu
HOUSTON -- (December 31, 2009) -- When combined, a virus that targets cancer cells and a commonly used cancer drug have been found to significantly extend the life expectancy and shrink the tumor of rats carrying malignant gliomas, an aggressive brain tumor, say researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and McGill University in Montreal.
A retrospective analysis of patients treated for pediatric cancers indicated that Ewing’s sarcoma and astrocytoma were the types most likely to recur within 20 years.
Researchers reviewed data collected on 12,795 patients, of whom 806 experienced recurrence five or more years after diagnosis. The median age at original diagnosis was 8.3 years; it was 26 years at follow-up. Most late recurrences occurred five to 10 years following...
