Nanotechnologies for brain tumor therapy [Chapter 8]

Although cerebral gliomas represent only 2% of cancers, they account for about 45% of all primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors being among the most deadly neoplasms. In big series of patients harboring a malignant brain tumor, survival rate goes between 2% and 4% at 3/5 years from treatment. This percentage goes up (until 11% of survival at 3 years) when considering smaller series. Nowadays the great majority of patients harboring a malignant brain tumor receives the “Stupp protocol” (radiation1low-dose temozolomide (TMZ), followed by monthly TMZ) as initial treatment. Survival data of 254 patients receiving this protocol showed that 16% of them were alive after 3 years, while only 9.8% after 5 years. Although the 5-year survival rate was approximately double that of previous series, the survival curve showed no sign of plateau, which suggests that the asymptotic level of survival will eventually reach zero.