Can gliomas be inherited?

Written by Gao Yi Shen
Neurosurgery
Updated on September 12, 2024
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Gliomas have a certain hereditary proportion, but this is not an absolute concept. In clinical practice, there is no clear explanation for the pathogenic factors of gliomas, and theories are generally speculative. For instance, one factor is genetic nature, and there is also some familial clustering which supports the idea of a genetic predisposition. However, it is usually easier to identify purely genetic diseases, but gliomas often involve the inheritance of multiple genes, making it difficult to pinpoint the fundamental factors directly. Additionally, other factors include exposure to radiation and engaging in harmful work, such as producing methanol or solvents, etc. These can also cause genetic mutations leading to gliomas, so the issue is not necessarily solely genetic.

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Is glioma a terminal illness?

Glioblastoma is not an incurable disease. Patients with glioblastoma have a type of malignant tumor that tends to grow rapidly. These tumors often adhere to surrounding brain tissue in the early stages, making complete surgical removal difficult. If any glioma cells remain after surgery, the tumor tissue will gradually grow over time. Thus, patients with glioblastoma are prone to recurrence, but it is not an incurable disease. If early detection and surgical removal can be achieved, and supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it can maximize the therapeutic effects of the surgery, thereby effectively improving the prognosis and delaying the progression of the disease. This approach can relatively extend the patient's lifespan, and some patients may even achieve long-term survival.

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Late-stage symptoms of glioma

The continuous growth of gliomas or the occurrence of tumor stroke hemorrhages can lead to very high intracranial pressure in patients in the late stages. This results in severe headaches with persistent attacks, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Projectile vomiting is a typical manifestation of increased intracranial pressure. Patients may experience changes in consciousness, such as drowsiness, stupor, and coma. As the condition progresses to brain herniation, patients can fall into a deep coma, with either bilateral or unilateral pupil dilation and loss of light reflex. Vital signs become unstable, ultimately leading to death due to heart and respiratory arrest caused by the brain herniation.

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What are the symptoms of glioma?

Patients with gliomas often exhibit a range of symptoms including significant headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. As the tumor grows, it typically leads to an evident increase in intracranial pressure. Besides the original symptoms, some patients may also experience marked declines in vision, visual field deficits, and papilledema. The growth of the tumor inevitably compresses surrounding tissues, nerves, and blood vessels, leading to a variety of symptoms of neurological damage, such as noticeable hemiplegia, aphasia, and even abnormal sensations in one side of the body, characterized by numbness, pain, and a pins-and-needles sensation.

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Is a glioma benign or malignant?

Glioblastoma is the most common form of malignant tumor inside the skull, and the vast majority of glioblastomas are highly malignant. Once changes in this condition are detected, generally, the patient doesn't have much time left. If it is a relatively better glioblastoma, which means it is highly differentiated, the survival time is about 1-2 years. For some poorer glioblastomas, or those with low differentiation, their survival period is often only about six months, and they continuously spread along with nerve fibers to the surrounding areas. They might even metastasize to distant places through cerebrospinal fluid, blood, lymph, and other means. Therefore, even if surgery is used to remove a single lesion, other parts of the body may still demonstrate metastatic lesions. Hence, the treatment approach for this is comprehensive.

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Gliomas grow where?

Glioma is a stubborn malignant tumor of the central nervous system that originates from neuroglial cells. Therefore, gliomas can occur anywhere there are neuroglial cells. Clinically, based on the common sites of the tumors, gliomas can be divided into supratentorial gliomas, which are mostly found in the cerebral hemispheres, frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and parietal lobes, and are less common in the occipital lobes. There are also infratentorial gliomas primarily in the cerebellum. Additionally, a few gliomas are found in the brainstem and spinal cord.