Gliomas are tumors that occur in all ages; they include the most common malign primary central nervous system tumors in developed countries. Gliomas are often aggressive, and their recommended treatment is surgical resection and chemoradiation. Complete tumor removal is challenging because of diffuse cell growth and the proximity of functionally critical tissues. The current golden standard for intraoperative glioma detection is fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) using 5-ALA. In 5-ALA FGS the drug-induced fluorescence helps to visually detect tumor cells, which improves resection rates and delays tumor progression. Tumor cells are often left unnoticed because of visual obstacles or weak fluorescence, which may lead to local recurrence and reoperations. Surgical suction devices are routinely used to remove cancerous tissues, but so far, the analysis of the suction waste has not been used in near real-time tissue detection.
Patient admitted to neurosurgery department for surgical resection of a suspected grade 3 or 4 glioma with 5-ALA (cases)
Patient admitted to neurosurgery department for surgical resection of a primary of secondary brain tumor with no 5-ALA (controls)
Patients aged 18 years old or older (all patients)
Informed consent obtained (all patients)
Patient belongs to the following vulnerable groups: children, pregnant, prisoners or intellectually disabled.
The participants are not randomized. Randomization is not conducted as the number of eligible patients is limited, subjecting to a long recruitment period that reciprocally increases the bias from uncontrollable (evolving) surgical techniques and adjunct treatments.
The patients are screened and informed of the study before the surgical operation and enrolled after verification of eligibility and written informed consent has been received.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Lead sponsor
Marginum Ltd.
Collaborator