Brain Cancer Innovation: Attacking the Core

In the article Brain Cancer Innovation: Attacking the Core, Anne Denogeantries to clarify how deadly glioma (malignant tumor of the neurological cells) actually is, and how a balloon filled with radiation can extend a patients life.

Anne goes on to explain that this treatment is not a cure but on average it doesgive the patient additional months if he or she did not take the surgery. This procedure is done to treat some of the most severe cases of glioma, which was

recorded to end up in an average of nine thousand four hundred Americans every year. She also says that this method of using a balloon has been the best when it comes to not damaging any of the patient's brain tissue. Doctors have been searching for something like this for many years.

The patients that are diagnosed with this illness are usually between the ageof thirty to fifty years old. When these people come in for surgery to cut out the cancer, they usually come out of the room with no brain with the cancer completely gone. The problem with this style of surgery is the cancer comes back after only a short period of time. This is where the radiation balloon (which is used at the University of Arizona and many other sites in America) comes into play. This balloon was created in such a way that it is able to secrete about two centimeters of radiation fluid every time it detects the tumor is getting to large. This is a cheaper more sufficient treatment for glioma patients to choose rather than many surgeries.

The balloon is attached to the catheter during the removal of the tumor. Once it is in the correct position it is filled up with saline. So far, there has been one person that

reportedly lived for over two years after being diagnosed with glioblastoma. This person was treated at the University of Arizona and the only one in Tucson

who is able to implant this balloon is Dr. Baldassarre Stea.

With all of this information that the University of Arizona obtained they will continue to do research on this topic and will hope that they are able to one day able to find the cure to this horrible disease.