PRESENTATION
Approximately 20% of patients with cancer develop brain metastases. Some evidence indicates that as techniques for treating systemic tumors improve, the incidence of brain metastases, sequestered as they are behind the blood-brain barrier, is increasing.
Indeed, the brain is regarded as a sanctuary site for metastatic tumor cells where they exist partially protected from drugs by the blood-tumor barrier. Model systems for brain metastasis is an emerging area of interest in organ-specific metastasis research and are now yielding mechanistic insights into the roles of angiogenesis, energy metabolism, growth factors signaling pathways, and dormancy.
The diagnostic and therapeutic approach depends on the number and location of brain lesions and the stage of the primitive cancer. Patients with brain metastases are rarely cured. However, appropriate treatment can improve both the quality and duration of the patient’s life. Treatment management of brain metastasis is constantly evolving and emerging therapeutic strategies associating novel radiation therapy protocol and new pharmacologic agents are booming in the literature, which witnesses a massive interest in this research area.
In order to make a point on the latest advances and researches in this promising field, Canceropôle PACA gather during this specific thematic meeting the best world known specialists of the domain under the direction of Prof. Henry Dufour and Dr Philippe Métellus, from the Neurosurgery Department at the University Hospital La Timone in Marseille.
Pr Henry Dufour & Dr Philippe Métellus
