Treatments

Treatment of Low Grade Glioma

At the Northwestern Medicine Low Grade Glioma Program, you will work with a team of experts who have extensive experience treating gliomas and seizures. Once testing is complete, they will create a treatment plan designed to give you the best possible outcome and quality of life.

Your treatment plan may involve surgery, radiation, medical therapy or observation.

Surgery for Low Grade Glioma

Your team may decide that the best treatment option is surgery to remove your glioma. In this case, you will be in expert hands at Northwestern Medicine Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute of Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The institute’s neurosurgeons are internationally trained and have extensive experience treating brain tumors. They are also committed to advancing brain tumor care through clinical trials. This means you may have access to leading-edge therapies that are not yet widely available.

Our expert neurosurgeons use advanced brain-mapping technology to determine the exact location of a low grade glioma. Advanced and individualized brain mapping helps the team understand which parts of your brain control certain functions, such as memory, language and movement. Once these areas are mapped out, the team has a more precise understanding of which areas of the brain may be safely resected. A patient may have been told in the past that surgery is not an option because of the location of their tumor. But with this individualized functional brain mapping, the team may be able to offer surgical options that had not previously been available.

Recurrent Low Grade Glioma

Sometimes, low grade gliomas, in particular Grade 2 gliomas, return after tumor treatment. This is because some tumor cells may remain and start to regrow, despite therapy. This is called recurrent low grade glioma.

You may need additional surgery, chemotherapy or radiation to manage recurrent low grade glioma. Clinical trials may be an option for you. This is why our team will continue to monitor you with regular imaging tests and follow-up visits even after you have had surgery.