Missing chromosome predicts brain tumor patients' response to treatment

People with a highly aggressive type of brain tumor who are missing a specific chromosome live longer and respond better to the chemotherapy drug temozolomide than people without this genetic abnormality, according to research published in the February 19, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Gliomatosis cerebri is a rare type of brain tumor that is difficult to diagnosis, cannot be operated on, and has an extremely variable prognosis.