Glial cells provide nutritional, metabolic, and mechanical support to neural tissue. There are glial cells which surround blood vessels bringing nutrition into the brain, these same glial cells, called astrocytes, also surround the neurons which depend on the astrocytes for transferring nutrition from the blood to the neurons. Thus the astrocytes are an essential component of the blood-brain barrier which is a cellular buffer zone between the neurons and the blood. Most aggressive of glial neoplasms. Most difficult to treat.
Intensive research is ongoing to discover a cure or life-prolonging therapy for glioblastoma.
Gliomas are neoplasms that arise from glial cells. Any tumor arising from glial tissue. Excess water in the brain due to blockage of cerebrospinal fluid flow, increased production, or decreased absorption. The implantation of radioactive seeds directly into a tumor. The opposite of encapsulated.