Chemotherapy for malignant glioma

Malignant gliomas comprise a small percentage of all cancers, but continue to cause disproportionate levels of morbidity and mortality. Despite decades of intensive effort from many disciplines--surgery, radiation oncology and medicine--they remain refractory to cure and, in most cases, even to prolonged treatment response. Comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment is well recognized as the optimal approach. While continued advances and refinement in both surgical and radiotherapy-based techniques are certain, medical therapies are expanding at a much more rapid rate. This is due, in large part, to an understanding of the molecular events that underlie cancer pathogenesis and improved laboratory techniques to manufacture and study molecules that influence this process. This review will focus on medical therapies in the treatment of malignant glioma, never losing sight of their place as one of several therapeutic modalities used to confront brain cancer.