Neurooncology is a branch of medicine that concerns cancers of the brain and spinal cord. Cancers of the nervous system are often severe conditions that eventually become life threatening.
Some examples of these life threatening neurological cancers include astrocytomas, glioblastoma multiforme, glioma, pontine glioma, ependymoma and brain stem tumors. Of the malignant brain cancers, high-grade astrocytoma and gliomas of the brain stem are examples of the most severe diseases, with patients not usually surviving more than a few months without treatment. Survival can be extended with chemotherapy and radiotherapy to a couple of years in some cases.
