"Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults, with a five-year survival rate of less than 7 percent, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. The cancer is notoriously difficult to treat because it is highly invasive and because the blood-brain barrier, which acts as a protective filter for the brain, prevents many chemotherapy drugs from reaching the tumors."
"An additional challenge in glioblastoma is assessing therapeutic response, as radiation or immunotherapies can distort contrast-enhancing regions on MRI, leading to uncertainty about what constitutes true tumor progression versus treatment-associated 'pseudo-progression'. Determining whether a glioblastoma tumor is responding to therapy or continuing to grow may influence future management choices, such as the need for additional surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. This can also be important for determining the success of new therapeutic approaches in the context of a clinical trial."
"Ultimately, what we have to rely on is waiting long enough to see if the patient ultimately lives longer or shorter than expected. As you might imagine, that's not practical for brain tumor patients when time is very valuable,"
Scientists developed a new non-invasive approach to better determine which glioblastoma patients respond favorably to chemotherapy and guide future treatment plans. Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive adult primary brain tumor, with under 7% five-year survival, high invasiveness, and restricted drug delivery due to the blood–brain barrier. Assessing therapeutic response is complicated because radiation and immunotherapies can distort MRI contrast-enhancing regions, creating uncertainty between true progression and treatment-associated pseudo-progression. Clear early indicators of response could influence decisions about additional surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy and improve evaluation of experimental therapies in clinical trials.
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