Image Guided Therapy in the Treatment of Gliomas

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To correlate the imaging findings with pathological grade following surgery in patients with newly diagnosed intra-cranial gliomas. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the feasibility of defining the optimal target volume for radiation therapy using MR spectroscopy, diffusion, perfusion and functional imaging. II. To monitor therapeutic responses following treatment using MR spectroscopy, diffusion imaging and perfusion study. III. To monitor changes in neurocognitive functioning following image guided therapy. OUTLINE: Patients undergo magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion-weighted MRI, and perfusion-weighted MRI. Patients then undergo maximum surgical resection followed by intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) 5 days a week for 6 weeks. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for the first year then every 6 months for another year.