Roxanne Nelson

March 21, 2012 — The controversy surrounding the health risks related to cell phones continues to evolve.

A new study, published online March 8 in BMJ, suggests that there is little evidence linking cell phone use to a higher risk for glioma. The researchers note that the higher risks seen previously are not consistent with the incidence trends they found in the American population.

“Our study looked at actual rates of glioma in the United States, in comparison to projected or expected rates of glioma based on observations from the INTERPHONE study [Int J Epidemiol. 2010;39:675-694] and a study in Sweden explained lead author Mark Little, DPhil, senior scientist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Rockville, Maryland. “We found that actual glioma rates declined over the study period.”… [Continue Reading]

Maria Grazia Bruzzone; Marica Eoli; Valeria Cuccarini; Marina Grisoli; Lorella Valletta; Gaetano Finocchiaro

In recent years the amount of information concerning the genetics and the biology of gliomas, and particularly of glioblastoma multiforme, increased steadily. Such an increase has been paralleled by the technological progress of MRI. The merging of these scientific areas, as summarized in this review, is helping the stratification of glioma patients for clinical trials and their clinical follow-up. Although available therapeutic options appear limited in number, it is likely that in the next 5 years, both as a consequence of the increased knowledge due to genomic sequencing of hundreds of glioblastoma specimens and to continuous improvements of MRI, new perspectives will be available for these patients, with a sizable impact on their prognosis.… [Continue Reading]