About this Research Topic
Primary malignancies affecting the brain and the spine represent a challenging clinical scenario. While surgery has represented the most effective treatment in past decades, basic science, technologies, and novel instrumentations have been progressively modifying the clinical practice. Therefore, the patients may now benefit from multidisciplinary management, and different medical specialists are continuously involved in the decision-making process.
The surgical theater has been also implemented with novel devices for ameliorating the surgical and clinical outcomes, in terms of resection rate and functional preservation. However, the most significant advancements find their bases in basic science and translational research.
High-grade gliomas represent relatively frequent cases in the neurosurgical practice, and their diagnosis and clinical-radiological follow-up are limited to standard MRI imaging, surgical biopsy, and pathology. By contrast, the role of liquid biopsy has been not clarified yet, although it is supposed to revolutionize the medical and surgical approach to these patients. In fact, the reduced need for surgical biopsy could speed up adjuvant treatments, both in novel diagnosed HGG and in recurrent cases, even promoting targeted therapies and personalized treatment protocols.
On the other hand, primary spinal malignancies still represent a challenging scenario for spine surgeons, and their surgical management is associated with high perioperative complications risk. Radiotherapy and medical oncology represent effective alternatives, limiting the role of surgery to neurological symptomatic patients. However, there are few standardized protocols for the management of primary spine primary tumors and their multidisciplinary treatment; furthermore, the role of neo-adjuvant and adjuvant surgery needs to be clarified.
The Topic Editors will welcome high-level of evidence papers, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses, clinical trials, prospective investigations, and case-control studies potentially interesting a wide audience of readers from different medical and non-medical specialties, about, but not limited to, the following subjects:
- novel treatment protocols for newly diagnosed and recurrent high-grade gliomas
- the role of liquid biopsy, exosomes, and circulating particles in the diagnosis and clinical follow-up of high-grade gliomas
- translational research on primary brain malignancies
- treatment protocols of primary spine tumors and future perspectives
The surgical theater has been also implemented with novel devices for ameliorating the surgical and clinical outcomes, in terms of resection rate and functional preservation. However, the most significant advancements find their bases in basic science and translational research.
High-grade gliomas represent relatively frequent cases in the neurosurgical practice, and their diagnosis and clinical-radiological follow-up are limited to standard MRI imaging, surgical biopsy, and pathology. By contrast, the role of liquid biopsy has been not clarified yet, although it is supposed to revolutionize the medical and surgical approach to these patients. In fact, the reduced need for surgical biopsy could speed up adjuvant treatments, both in novel diagnosed HGG and in recurrent cases, even promoting targeted therapies and personalized treatment protocols.
On the other hand, primary spinal malignancies still represent a challenging scenario for spine surgeons, and their surgical management is associated with high perioperative complications risk. Radiotherapy and medical oncology represent effective alternatives, limiting the role of surgery to neurological symptomatic patients. However, there are few standardized protocols for the management of primary spine primary tumors and their multidisciplinary treatment; furthermore, the role of neo-adjuvant and adjuvant surgery needs to be clarified.
The Topic Editors will welcome high-level of evidence papers, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses, clinical trials, prospective investigations, and case-control studies potentially interesting a wide audience of readers from different medical and non-medical specialties, about, but not limited to, the following subjects:
- novel treatment protocols for newly diagnosed and recurrent high-grade gliomas
- the role of liquid biopsy, exosomes, and circulating particles in the diagnosis and clinical follow-up of high-grade gliomas
- translational research on primary brain malignancies
- treatment protocols of primary spine tumors and future perspectives
Keywords: Glioma, spinal tumor, brain, neuro-oncology, malignancy
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