About the Book

This book aims to gather the current knowledge regarding different aspects of brain and spinal cord tumors in order to more efficiently help the patients. Brain tumors comprise about 5-9% of all human neoplasms; and the central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms are ranked among the most prevalent neoplasms of childhood as well. The more we know about the nature and characteristic of brain and spinal cord tumors, the more precise decision could be made for each patient, in order to reach the best outcome. While surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have been considered as the standards of care for benign and/or malignant CNS tumors since a long time ago, new therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy have been recently proposed to be considered for treatment of CNS tumors, especially as in some cases, the tumors might be inoperable or the patient may not benefit from other treatment modalities after several recurrences.

The second volume of the book focuses on clinical aspects of these tumors. Accordingly, the most important brain and spinal cord tumors are specifically discussed in each chapter based on a rational outlining for all chapter in this volume: Background and epidemiology, genetics, immunology and molecular biology, histopathology and morphology, imaging and radiologic features, clinical manifestations, therapeutic approaches, surgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, new therapeutic modalities, follow-up, and prognosis. The chapters of this volume discuss the following pathologies of brain and spinal cord tumors: malignant glioma, benign glioma, meningiomas and other meningeal tumors, ependymomas, medulloblastomas, pineal tumors, choroid plexus and ventricular tumors, neuroectodermal tumors of CNS, neuroepithelial tumors of CNS, pituitary gland tumors, craniopharyngioma, schwannomas and nerve-sheet tumors, hemangioblastomas and other vascular originating tumors, brain and spinal tumors of embryonic origin, germ line cell tumors, malignant bone or cartilage-originating tumors of brain and spine, benign bone or cartilage-originating tumors of brain and spine, brain tumors affecting the orbit globe and orbit tumors affecting the brain, CNS lymphomas, metastatic lesions of the brain and spine, malignant spinal tumors, benign spinal tumors, brain and/or spinal cord tumors accompanied with other diseases or syndromes, psychological and psychiatric aspects of brain and spinal cord tumors, a brief explanation on surgical approaches for treatment of different brain tumors. This volume of book is useful for physicians of different specialties, mainly neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuropathologists, and neuroradiologists.

About the Author: Professor Nima Rezaei gained his medical degree (MD) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and subsequently obtained an MSc in Molecular and Genetic Medicine and a PhD in Clinical Immunology and Human Genetics from the University of Sheffield, UK. He also spent a short-term fellowship of Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation in the Newcastle General Hospital. Professor Rezaei is now the Full Professor of Immunology and Vice Dean of Research and Technologies, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the co-founder and Head of the Research Center for Immunodeficiencies. He is also the Founding President of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN). Prof. Rezaei has already been the Director of more than 100 research projects and has designed and participated in several international collaborative projects. Prof. Rezaei is the editor, editorial assistant, or editorial board member of more than 40 international journals. He has edited more than 50 international books, has presented more than 500 lectures/posters in congresses/meetings, and has published more than 1,100 scientific papers in the international journals.

Dr. Sara Hanaei started medicine at TUMS in 2010 and started a master of public health (MPH) in 2014. She graduated with MD-MPH in 2018. She also received TUMS Research Diploma (TUMS-RD) in a 2-year study period from 2013-2015. She was a research assistant at Research Center for Immunodeficiencies (RCID) from 2018-2021 and further continued neurosurgery as a clinical specialty at TUMS in 2021. She has experience in teaching research skills to students.

Medical research was one of her greatest interests since the beginning of her academic education, especially in the fields of Neurosurgery and Immunology, therefore, she started research in those fields. Over the past decade, she contributed to different research projects, books, and other research activities including instructing research workshops in statistics, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis. She got involved in executive tasks and developed some executive skills through membership in the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), where she experienced organizing scientific events, congresses, festivals, scoring, rankings, etc.