“Dear readers and followers, I have been wanting to share an update on my health with you for a long time and have been waiting to ‘find’ the strength to do so. At the end of 2022, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I didn’t share this before because I wanted to make sure my children were able to hear and process this news in privacy and adjust to our ‘new normal’.” Thus begins the story entrusted to social media by the British writer Sophie Kinsella, who wanted to make her illness public by explaining that she was taken care of by a team at University College Hospital in London and that she underwent surgery which went well. Followed by “radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing”, added the author of ‘I Love Shopping’.
What is glioblastoma
But what type of tumor is the glioblastoma that affected you? It is the most common malignant brain tumor and in Italy it affects around 1,500 people every year, reports the Rare Diseases Observatory (Omar). This neoplasm develops from glial cells, which perform important functions of support and nutrition of nerve cells, deepens a form published online on the website of the Irccs San Raffaele hospital in Milan. This tumor can arise anywhere in the brain “and is generally characterized by rapid growth and the ability to infiltrate surrounding tissue,” it says. Experts from the Humanitas Clinical Institute also highlight its aggressiveness. In the ‘family’ of glial tumors, it is part of the class of astrocytomas, which make up approximately 85% of all adult gliomas. Around the world, there are around 40,000 new cases every year.
What are the symptoms
The symptoms of glioblastoma, lists San Raffaele, vary depending on the location in the brain: headache; nausea; vomit; weakness; balance difficulties; vision or hearing problems; memory and language difficulties; Seizures; personality changes. It is also possible for glioblastoma to begin in a manner similar to a stroke, with a sudden neurological deficit, usually secondary to acute bleeding from the lesion.
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Risk factors and diagnosis
Risk factors for glioblastoma include advanced age, exposure to ionizing radiation, the presence of certain gene mutations, family history of brain tumors. However, most cases occur in the absence of known risk factors. The suspicion of a high-grade glial lesion is usually raised with magnetic resonance imaging. The diagnosis is histological and requires removal of the tumor through neurosurgical intervention.
Treatments and therapies
Research is working to improve the treatments available for this cancer. Glioblastoma can currently be treated with a triple approach: surgery to remove the tumor, chemotherapy with temozolomide and radiotherapy, explains the Veronesi Foundation, which adds: “Recently some studies have demonstrated, in a subgroup of tumors, the albeit partial effectiveness of ‘immunotherapy. Treatment strategies that have never significantly improved survival data.’
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Life expectancy
This is a disease that predominantly affects people after the age of 50. And unfortunately, despite therapies, life expectancy remains low. This is because glioblastoma has very high recurrence rates. And when the tumor recurs it is often resistant to treatment. Scientists aim to investigate precisely what causes the poor response to therapies that characterizes many cases, with the aim of arriving at more targeted treatments and extending survival. And we are working on experimental therapies, which is also the mission of Italian scientists active both in Italy and abroad.
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