Doctors diagnose and prescribe treatment for brain tumors by studying, under a microscope, tumor tissue and cell samples obtained through invasive biopsy or surgery.

A special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can depict changes in blood volume in the brain that often precede cancerous transformation of brain tumors, according to a new study published in the April issue of the journal Radiology.

Unique human in vitro model (cell culture) research currently underway at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England is set to identify and develop therapies for the treatment of multiple tumours in the brain.

In a G&D paper published online ahead of its April 1 print publication date, Dr. William Kaelin (Dana Farber Cancer Institute) and colleagues identify a potential new neuronal tumor suppressor.

A discovery by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists suggests a safer way to treat medulloblastoma, a rare but often fatal childhood brain tumor. The group found that one of the brain’s signaling pathways inhibits the growth of the highly aggressive cancer cells.

A novel drug that fully eliminated brain tumors from mice in a dramatic 2004 study has shown a darker side—causing permanent bone damage in younger mice. The researcher who conducted both studies says the disappointing new finding raises concerns about using similar drugs to treat children’s cancers, at least until there is a more thorough understanding of possible risks.

Frustrated by the slow pace of new drug development for a condition that causes pediatric brain tumors, a neurologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis decided to try to fine-tune the animal models used to test new drugs.

Screening breast cancers for three receptors could help doctors predict the likely survival of patients with brain metastases. A study published in the open access journal Breast Cancer Research shows that patients with tumours that are negative for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth receptor-2 (HER2) or that are HER2+/ER- appear to be most at risk from developing brain metastases.

Perhaps the only positive spin one can put on the brain cancer glioblastoma is that it’s relatively uncommon. Other than that, the news is bad. It is nearly always fatal, it tends to strike people in the prime of their lives, and the limited treatment options have changed little over decades.

In a study to determine safe dosages of the isotope astatine-211 for treating patients with recurring brain tumors, researchers were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the isotope's potency sufficient to kill residual cancer cells without damaging sensitive healthy brain cells, but the patients experienced longer survival rates.

People who receive high doses of the chemotherapy drug methotrexate to treat a certain type of brain tumor appear to live longer than people receiving other treatments, according to research published in the January 29, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

In a clinical trial published this week in PLoS Medicine, Charles Sawyers and colleagues looked at the safety of a drug called rapamycin in a selected group of patients who were undergoingsurgery after recurrence of glioblastoma (a highly malignant tumor of the brain).