Overview of Glioma

Due to the serious environmental pollution nowadays, people are more likely to get sick, especially various tumors, and glioma is very likely to appear. We may not know much about glioma, so let me introduce to you what is the overview of glioma!

Gliomas are tumors that occur in the neuroectoderm, so they are also called neuroectodermal tumors or neuroepithelial tumors. Tumors originate from neural interstitial cells, namely glia, ependyma, choroid plexus epithelium, and neural parenchymal cells, namely neurons. Most tumors originate from different types of glia, but based on their histological origins and similar biological characteristics, various tumors that occur in the neuroectoderm are generally called gliomas.

There are many ways to classify gliomas, and clinicians often use the Kernohan classification, which is relatively simple. Among all types of gliomas, astrocytomas are the most common, followed by glioblastomas, followed by medulloblastomas, ependymomas, oligodendrogliomas, pinealomas, mixed gliomas, choroid plexus papilloma, unclassified gliomas, and neuronal tumors. Each type of glioma has a different predilection site. For example, astrocytomas are more common in the cerebral hemispheres in adults, and more common in the cerebellum in children; glioblastomas almost always occur in the cerebral hemispheres; medulloblastomas occur in the cerebellar vermis; ependymomas are more common in the fourth ventricle; and oligodendrogliomas mostly occur in the cerebral hemispheres.

Gliomas are more common in men, especially glioblastoma multiforme and medulloblastoma, which are significantly more common in men than in women. All types of glioblastoma are more common in middle-aged people, ependymoma is more common in children and young people, and medulloblastoma almost always occurs in children. The location of glioma is also related to age. For example, cerebral astrocytoma and glioblastoma are more common in adults, while cerebellar glioma (astrocytoma, medulloblastoma, ependymoma) is more common in children.