Study of Stereotactic Radiosurgery to the Subventricular Zone in Malignant Gliomas

Several investigations suggest neural stem cells located in the subventricular region play an active role in promoting or even initiating cortical malignant glioma growth. Although normal appearing on neuroimaging, surgical specimens taken from this region show it contains malignant glioma stem-like cells. Some retrospective analyses found patients who received radiation therapy to this region during standard of care treatments lived longer than patients who did not. The investigator's study hypothesizes (1) stereotactic radiosurgery of cancer stem-like cells in these regions will be well tolerated during standard of care therapy, (2) focused stereotactic radiosurgery will be more effective in destroying cancer stem cells than conventional radiation therapy, and (3) treatment will improve malignant glioma survival.