Treatments for glioblastoma (IDH-wild type)

The following are treatments for glioblastoma. It is a grade 4 tumour, so it grows quickly and spreads deeply into the nearby brain tissue.

All glioblastomas are classified as glioblastoma (IDH-wild type).

Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery is usually the first treatment for glioblastoma. It is used to remove as much of the tumour as possible.

Surgery is followed by radiation therapy or chemotherapy or both.

Find out more about surgery for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy is used after surgery to treat the area where the tumour was removed and any cancer cells that may be left. Radiation therapy may also be used by itself as the main treatment if the tumour can’t be removed, or if you aren’t healthy enough or don’t want to have surgery.

Find out more about radiation therapy for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy is often used with radiation therapy after surgery to treat glioblastoma.

The most common chemotherapy drug used to treat glioblastoma is temozolomide. It is offered after surgery or if the tumour can’t be removed with surgery.

Carmustine implants may be placed at the end of surgery in the cavity in the brain where the tumour was removed.

Find out more about chemotherapy for brain and spinal cord tumours.

Alternating electric fields therapy uses electricity to stop the tumour cells from dividing, which may prevent the tumour from growing or spreading quickly into the nearby brain tissues.

Alternating electric fields therapy may be offered to people with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

Find out more about alternating electric fields therapy.

Corticosteroids and antiseizure medicines (anticonvulsants) may be offered to help lessen the symptoms caused by glioblastoma and treatment side effects.

Find out more about corticosteroids and antiseizure medicines.

Recurrent glioblastoma means that the cancer has come back after being treated. Glioblastoma often recurs within 2 years after being treated.

Treatment options for recurrent glioblastoma include:

• surgery – if the tumour can be removed safely and without any significant neurological effects
• stereotactic radiation therapy
• chemotherapy with temozolomide or PCV (procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine)
• immunotherapy with bevacizumab (Avastin and biosimilars) combined with lomustine
• alternating electric fields therapy

You may want to consider a type of care to make you feel better without treating the cancer itself. This may be because the cancer treatments don’t work anymore, they’re not likely to improve your condition or they may cause side effects that are hard to cope with. There may also be other reasons why you can’t have or don't want cancer treatment.

Talk to your healthcare team. They can help you choose care and treatment for advanced cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with brain and spinal cord tumours in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.