LAUSR

INTRODUCTION Surgical resection plays a pivotal role in the management of glial tumors and a greater extent of resection should be the goal in most surgeries in order to improve overall survival. Many factors may limit the extent of resection A potential role for preoperative chemotherapy to decrease the volume and/or infiltration of gliomas, thereby facilitating a safe radical resection, has been recently suggested. This review aims to provide an overview of the current state of neoadjuvant therapy in the field of glioma surgery. METHODS A systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines to identify articles of low and high-grade gliomas that received neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery to improve the extent of resection from 2000 to 2020. Full-text papers that addressed this subject were included for evaluation. RESULTS Case reports and clinical trials have been published for the use of chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant therapy to improve surgical resection in low-grade gliomas. More scarce information exists regarding this strategy for high-grade glioma surgery. CONCLUSION Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has played a role in overcoming obstacles that limit the extent of resection in patients with complex gliomas, especially low-grade gliomas.