Complications of glioma surgery

Even with current advances in adjunctive therapies, including radiation, chemotherapy, and various clinical trials of gene therapy and immunotherapy, surgical resection remains one of the most effective treatment for intra-axial gliomas. Survival in these patients has been shown to be related to the extent of resection. In some cases, it can provide cures of long-term remission; in others, it can provide disease control when combined with the above adjunctive treatments. However, surgical resection carries its own risks and complications. These complications can be broadly divided into neurologic, regional, and systemic, including direct cortical and vascular injury, surgical wound complications, and postsurgical medical complications. Certain patient characteristics, including Karnofsky performance status score (KPS) and pathology of the tumor, have been shown to have an impact on the risk of postsurgical complications. Advancement in preoperative and intraoperative adjunct technology such as cortical mapping and navigation has improved the surgeon's ability to safely and maximally resect the tumors. It is therefore important to understand the perioperative complications after craniotomy and tumor resection and factors affecting morbidity and mortality in order for surgeons to optimally select and counsel patients who will benefit the most from surgical resection. This chapter will focus on the complications associated with craniotomy for intrinsic glioma and ways of avoiding these events.