New concepts in surgery for diffuse low-grade gliomas: towards functional neuro-oncology

摘要

World Health Organization Grade II glioma, i.e. diffuse low grade glioma (DLGG), is a pre-malignantprimary brain tumor, which is characterized by a slow but continuous growth, migration along the white matterpathways and unavoidable anaplastic transformation (Pallud et al., 2006). Interestingly, surgical series withobjective assessment of the extent of resection (EOR) on postoperative MRI demonstrated that total or subtotalresection significantly increased the overall survival by delaying malignant transformation (Duffau, 2009; Smithet al., 2008). Consequently, as stated by the European guidelines, maximal resection is currently the firsttherapeutic option in DLGG (Soffietti et al., 2010).