Re: Glyoma

Posted By CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on January 14, 1999 at 08:38:26:

In Reply to: Glyoma posted by Anne-Marie Ryan on January 14, 1999 at 03:44:58:






Hello,
Could you please supply me with any information on Glyoma as I have a friend suffering from this condition and wish to support her or hand on any relevant information.
Thank You
Anne-Marie Ryan
Dear Anne-Marie:
Sorry to hear about your friend.  Gliomas are tumors that are found in the brain, they arise from a specific cell type in the brain called glia.  There are basically three types of brain glia cells, the astrocyte, the oligodendrocyte, and the microglia.  Tumors arises from each of the first two types of glia are called gliomas.  The microglia has not been described to cause glioms, that we currently know about.  There are benign and malignant types of gliomas, which describe whether the tumor cell is invasive and rapidly growing or not.  This definition is not as concrete in the brain but for our discussion it is okay.  There are slow growing tumors and fast growing tumors.  There are those tumors that respond to radiation and/or chemotherapy or surgery.  There are those that can be completely removed by surgery and have a longer survival and those that cannot and have a shorter survival even with chemotherapy and/or radiation.  It depends on the type of brain tumor or glioma.  Different types of gliomas
affect different parts of the brain or spinal cord and therefore have different symptoms.  Without knowing which type of glioma your friend has been diagnosed with I cannot tell you any specifics.  You should be able to go to any library and find a book on neurology, specifically neuro-oncology.  I wish your friend a long survival.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD