Experts help you understand what glioma is

Glioma, a strange word, is slowly approaching human life. What kind of disease is glioma? Glioma is a tumor that originates from glial cells in the brain. It is the most common intracranial tumor and a tumor disease with a high incidence rate. Next, experts will take you to learn about glioma.

Gliomas are tumors that occur in the neuroectoderm, so they are also called neuroectodermal tumors or neuroepithelial tumors. Tumors originate from neural interstitial cells, namely glia, ependyma, choroid plexus epithelium, and neural parenchymal cells, namely neurons. Most tumors originate from different types of glia, but based on their histological origins and similar biological characteristics, various tumors that occur in the neuroectoderm are generally called gliomas.

There are many ways to classify gliomas, and clinicians often use the Kernohan classification, which is relatively simple. Among all types of gliomas, astrocytomas are the most common, followed by glioblastomas, followed by medulloblastomas, ependymomas, oligodendrogliomas, pinealomas, mixed gliomas, choroid plexus papilloma, unclassified gliomas, and neuronal tumors. Each type of glioma has a different predilection site. For example, astrocytomas are more common in the cerebral hemispheres in adults, and more common in the cerebellum in children; glioblastomas almost always occur in the cerebral hemispheres; medulloblastomas occur in the cerebellar vermis; ependymomas are more common in the fourth ventricle; and oligodendrogliomas mostly occur in the cerebral hemispheres.

Gliomas are more common in men, especially glioblastoma multiforme and medulloblastoma, which are significantly more common in men than in women. All types of glioblastoma are more common in middle-aged people, ependymoma is more common in children and young people, and medulloblastoma almost always occurs in children. The location of glioma is also related to age. For example, cerebral astrocytoma and glioblastoma are more common in adults, while cerebellar glioma (astrocytoma, medulloblastoma, ependymoma) is more common in children.

Most gliomas develop slowly, and the time from the onset of symptoms to medical treatment is generally weeks to months, and a few can take several years. Highly malignant tumors and posterior cranial fossa tumors have a shorter medical history, while more benign tumors or tumors located in quiet areas have a longer medical history. If the tumor bleeds or cysts, the symptoms will suddenly worsen, and may even have a course similar to cerebrovascular disease. The clinical symptoms of gliomas can be divided into two aspects. One is the symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, such as headache, vomiting, decreased vision, diplopia, mental symptoms, etc.; the other is the focal symptoms caused by tumor compression, infiltration, and destruction of brain tissue, which can manifest as irritation symptoms such as localized epilepsy in the early stage and neurological dysfunction symptoms such as paralysis in the later stage.

The diagnosis of glioma is based on an analysis of its biological characteristics, age, gender, prevalent site and clinical course. Based on the medical history and physical signs, auxiliary examinations such as electrophysiology, ultrasound, radionuclide, radiology and magnetic resonance imaging are used. The positioning accuracy is almost 100%, and the qualitative diagnosis accuracy is over 90%.