Brain tumor
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive (grade IV) and most common form of a malignant brain tumor. Even when aggressive multimodality therapy consisting of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical excision is used, median survival is only 12–17 months. Standard therapy for glioblastoma multiforme consists of maximal surgical resection of the tumor, followed by radiotherapy between two and four weeks after the surgical procedure to remove the cancer, then by chemotherapy, such as temozolomide. Most patients with glioblastoma take a corticosteroid, typically dexamethasone, during their illness to relieve symptoms. Experimental treatments include targeted therapy, gamma knife radiosurgery, boron neutron capture therapy and gene therapy.
Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia
The prognosis of adult-AMKL in patients treated for the disease is far below that of other forms of AMKL. Their median overall survival times are only 18 to 41 weeks with 5 year survival rates of only 10-11 percent. Major improvements in these statistics will likely require new approaches directed at the underlying mechanism(s) driving the disease.