[Surgical resection of gliomas in 2008]

Surgical resection of gliomas is a well-established treatment. It allows a histo-genetic diagnosis, a mass effect reduction, an intracranial hypertension treatment, a recovery of an eventual neurological deficit induced by the mass effect, but mostly brings a significant survival. New imaging sequences are optimizing the surgical management of brain tumors by bringing precisions on the tumor morphology, on cortical/subcortical eloquent areas (functional and diffusion MRI), on histology (spectroscopic MR). If the tumor is located in eloquent area, surgery is performed under electrostimulation control to take into account cerebral plasticity and to avoid postoperative functional deficits. Neuronavigation, per-operative echography, and per-operative MRI are recognized tools for optimizing the tumor resection. Ongoing researches concern the adjunction of local treatments within the surgical field (photodynamic therapy, chemotherapy, convection immunotherapy...), but also the development of minimal invasive procedures (radiosurgery, high intensity focalized ultrasounds, laser interstitial thermal therapy).