“In late 2022, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I didn’t share this before because I wanted to make sure my children were able to hear and process this news in privacy and adjust to our ‘new normality”. Thus begins the story given to her on social media by the British writer Sophie Kinsella, who wanted to make her illness public by explaining that she was taken care of by a team from University College Hospital in London and that she had undergone surgery which was went well. Followed by “radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing”, added the author of ‘I Love Shopping’.
What type of tumor is glioblastoma
Glioblastoma it is the most common malignant brain tumor and in Italy it affects around 1,500 people every year, reports the Rare Diseases Observatory (Omar). This neoplasm develops from glial cells, which perform important functions of support and nutrition of nerve cells, explains a factsheet published online on the website of the Irccs San Raffaele hospital in Milan. This tumor can arise anywhere in the brain “and is generally characterized by rapid growth and the ability to infiltrate surrounding tissue,” it says. Experts from the Humanitas Clinical Institute also highlight its aggressiveness. In the ‘family’ of glial tumors, it is part of the class of astrocytomas, which make up approximately 85% of all adult gliomas. Around the world, there are around 40,000 new cases every year.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of glioblastoma, lists San Raffaele, vary depending on location in the brain: heachache; nausea; vomit; weakness; balance difficulties; vision or hearing problems; memory and language difficulties; Seizures; personality changes. It is also possible that glioblastoma begins in a manner similar to a stroke, with a sudden neurological deficit, usually secondary to acute bleeding from the lesion. Risk factors for glioblastoma include advanced age, exposure to ionizing radiation, the presence of certain gene mutations, family history of brain tumors. However, most cases occur in the absence of known risk factors. The suspicion of a high-grade glial lesion is usually raised with magnetic resonance imaging. The diagnosis is histological and requires removal of the tumor through neurosurgical intervention.
Treatments
Research is working to improve the treatments available for this cancer. Glioblastoma can currently be addressed with a three-pronged approach: surgery to remove the tumor, chemotherapy with temozolomide and radiotherapy, explains the Veronesi Foundation, which adds: “Recently some studies have demonstrated, in a subgroup of tumors, the albeit partial effectiveness of immunotherapy. Treatment strategies which in any case have not survival data have never significantly improved.”
This it is a disease that mainly affects people after the age of 50. And unfortunately, despite therapies, life expectancy remains low. This is because glioblastoma has very high recurrence rates. And when the tumor recurs it is often resistant to treatment. Scientists aim to investigate precisely what causes the poor response to therapies that characterizes many cases, with the aim of arriving at more targeted treatments and extending survival. And we are working on experimental therapies, which is also the mission of Italian scientists active both in Italy and abroad. Scientists such as Antonio Iavarone and Angelo Vescovi, who have several scientific publications on the subject.
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