About this Research Topic
Brain metastases (BM) are the most common intracranial tumor in adults and more prevalent than primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors. This is a leading cause of global mortality with approximately 200,000 new cases presented in the United States annually. Treatment for BM typically involves surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and/or a combination of these therapies. One of the efficient treatment strategies found for BM is stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), a non-surgical form of radiation therapy used for the treatment of abnormalities and small tumors. It is found to be particularly effective as it is minimally invasive. However, studies have indicated the survival rate following SRS is dependent on a variety of factors including age, primary cancer site, tumor volume, metastatic sites, etc. and therefore further studies are required to improve the efficiency.
Gliomas are the most primary brain tumors. Gliomas have been classified into four grades by the World Health Organization (WHO) where grades II and III are classified as lower-grade gliomas (LGG) and grade IV as glioblastoma (GBM). Gliomas are typically treated by a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Radiation therapy plays a major role in the management of gliomas and new radiotherapeutic techniques and options have been recently developed. On the other hand, there are limitations using radiation therapy including a variation of responses to treatment between patients with some responding to better short-term and varying levels of survival and overall outcome. Side effects including seizures primarily due to the brain damage influenced by ionizing radiation has also been observed in patients. Although radiation therapy needs further investigation to improve the efficiency of treatment, it is a great alternative or therapeutic supplement to surgical treatments for patients.
The use of radiotherapy and radiosurgery remain complex. The goal of this Research Topic is to look into the impact and influences of these therapeutic approaches towards treating neuro-oncologic diseases. Topics of interest include:
-Forms of radiation therapy to treat brain metastases
-Stereotactic radiotherapy using CyberKnife or Gamma Knife to treat neuro-oncologic and/or neurological diseases
-Impact of stereotactic radiotherapy in recurrent high-grade gliomas
-Influence of radiomics in the treatment of neurological diseases
-Effect on survival rate of brain metastases patients following stereotactic radiosurgery
-Impact of proton radiotherapy on pediatric brain tumor therapy and late-effects
-New developments in particle therapy, such as carbon ion therapy
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Keywords: radiotherapy, radiosurgery, neuro-oncology, glioma, high-grade glioma, gene mutation, stereotactic radiosurgery, pituitary adenoma
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