Mrs. Frances presented to the emergency department following agrand mal seizure. Her family reports that she has never had aseizure before, but over the past several months, she hascomplained of multiple headaches and has become more irritable. Shehas a CT scan of her head, which showed a large brain tumor in herfrontal lobe with multiple small tumors in other areas of herbrain. There is concern that she may have a grade IV glioblastomamultiforme. A neurosurgeon is called who explains that to treatthis condition she will need surgery, radiotherapy, andchemotherapy. He also explains that these tumors are difficult totreat and the median survival time is approximately 1 year. Explainwhy this type of tumor is so difficult to treat.
