Fighting Glioblastomas; know your enemy

by Konstantinos Gousias, Clinical Professor, University of Nicosia Medical School.

Introduction by Demetrios Kanakis, Professor of Pathology, University of Nicosia Medical School.

Glioblastomas account for 51 % of all primary malignant central nervous system tumors Their established therapy consists of a gross total resection when safely feasible, followed by adjuvant radio-, chemo- or radiochemotherapy and application of tumor treating fields. However, the current therapeutic regimen seems rather ineffective, since the survival of patients suffering from glioblastoma averages less than two years.

This lecture will provide an overview on the current clinical management of glioblastomas, on the future therapeutic perspectives as well as on the scientific contribution of the presenter in this field.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Prof Gousias is currently appointed as Associate Professor for Neurosurgery at the Westfälische Wilhelms University of Münster and Director of the Neurosurgical Department at its Academic Hospital in Lünen. Previously he was trained from 2008 to 2015 at the University of Bonn under Professor Johannes Schramm and Hartmut Vatter, where he was awarded in 2014 his venia legendi for Neurosurgery. In 2012 he completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Bonn dealing with the role of nucleocytoplasmic transport in glioblastomas, whereas he received his PhD degree in 2010 at the University of Ioannina concerning an epidemiological and immunological study on gliomas.

Prof Gousias is certified as an expert for surgical treatment of brain and spinal tumors as well as spinal pathologies by the German Neurosurgical Academy as well as the German and European Spine Society. His main clinical areas of interest lie in the neuro-oncology, complex spine procedures and intensive care medicine, while his research interests are in the areas of clinical and experimental neuro-oncology, neuroimmunology as well as molecular and cellular biology. He established the laboratory for neurosurgical sciences at the University Hospital Bergmannsheil in Bochum, whereas he has initiated several prospective multicentric clinical trials. He participates in various international clinical and scientific advisory boards for brain and spinal diseases, while he is a member of the Individual Membership committee and working group ‘Guidelines’ of the European Association of Neurological Societies (EANS) as well as of the brain tumor group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC.)