In addition to surgery and radiotherapy, local treatment modalities for the management of brain tumours are increasingly being developed and clinically tested. This book describes for the first time basic tumour biology as well as all current procedures in progress at the most recent level of knowledge, presented by leading experts in the respective fields. Image guided resection procedures, fluorescence guided surgery, developments in interstitial radiosurgery are addressed, just as intracavitary chemotherapy and all current concepts and studies of interstitial targeted therapy. Owing to its topicality this book will remain for long the standard for this comprehensively treated subject.

Non-thermal irreversible electroporation is a new minimally invasive surgical p- cedure with unique molecular selectivity attributes – in fact it may be considered the first clinical molecular surgery procedure. Non-thermal irreversible electro- ration is a molecular selective mode of cell ablation that employs brief electrical fields to produce nanoscale defects in the cell membrane, which can lead to cell death, without an effect on any of the other tissue molecules. The electrical fields can be produced through contact by insertion of electrode needles around the undesirable tissue and non-invasively by electromagnetic induction. This new - dition to the medical armamentarium requires the active involvement and is of interest to clinical physicians, medical researchers, mechanical engineers, che- cal engineers, electrical engineers, instrumentation designers, medical companies and many other fields and disciplines that were never exposed in their training to irreversible electroporation or to a similar concept. This edited book is designed to be a comprehensive introduction to the field of irreversible electroporation to those that were not exposed or trained in the field before and can also serve as a reference manual. Irreversible electroporation is broad and interdisciplinary. Therefore, we have made an attempt to cover every one of the various aspects of the field from an introductory basic level to state of the art.

This book, now in its second edition, provides a comprehensive overview of current re-irradiation strategies, with detailed discussion of re-irradiation methods, technical aspects, the role of combined therapy with anticancer drugs and hyperthermia, and normal tissue tolerance. In addition, disease specific chapters document recent clinical results and future research directions. All chapters from the first edition have been revised and updated to take account of the latest developments and research findings, including those from prospective studies. Due attention is paid to the exciting developments in the fields of proton irradiation and frameless image-guided ablative radiotherapy. The book documents fully how refined combined modality approaches and significant technical advances in radiation treatment planning and delivery have facilitated the re-irradiation of previously exposed volumes, allowing both palliative and curative approaches to be pursued at various disease sites. Professionals involved in radiation treatment planning and multimodal oncology treatment will find it to be an invaluable aid in understanding the benefits and limitations of re-irradiation and in designing prospective trials.

At present most intracranial gliomas are considered incurable with current treatment strategies, and the search for new modalities that may effectively control tumor growth continues. The chapters in this volume describe basic principles and therapeutic possibilities of several innovative techniques, including photodynamic therapy, laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy, stereotactic cryodestruction, high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation, boron neutron capture therapy, proton and carbon ion irradiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, local chemotherapy, and alternating electric fields therapy. Potential applications of extracellular vesicles and nanotechnology for management of gliomas are highlighted as well. Many of these methods have already demonstrated antitumor efficacy in clinical testing, whereas others are still under development. The materials presented in this book are mainly directed at clinicians treating patients with brain tumors, as well as clinical and basic researchers working in the field of neuro-oncology.

Malignant glioma is generally considered one of the most therapeutically difficult cerebral tumors. This book deals with many aspects of gliomas, including factors related to incidence and epidemiology, and surveys the history of glioma therapies. Experimental studies carried out by the Sendai Group of Neurosurgeons are reported, together with the results of many clinical studies of RAFP therapy. This particular theorapy involves the administration of radiation treatment and three chemical compounds: ACNU, Futraful and PSK. A recent technique for evaluating the effectiveness of therapy based on MRI diagnostic methods is introduced. This book thus offers valuable information and guidelines for future developments in treatment.

This book reviews the significant advances in our understanding of glioma biology that have been achieved during the past decade and describes in detail the resultant new approaches to treatment. Improvements in surgical techniques, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are comprehensively covered, with discussion of their impact in decreasing patient morbidity and increasing survival. In addition, individual chapters are devoted specifically to current treatment for low-grade gliomas, anaplastic gliomas, and glioblastoma multiforme. Other topics addressed include treatment of the elderly patient, investigating emerging therapies from small molecules to immunotherapy and palliative care. This timely book will be a valuable source of up-to-date information for practitioners and will also be of interest to researchers.