Traumatic brain injury and subsequent glioblastoma development: Review of the literature and case reports

BACKGROUND Previous reports have proposed an association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and subsequent glioblastoma (GBM) formation. METHODS We used literature searches and radiographic evidence from two patients to assess the possibility of a link between TBI and GBM. RESULTS Epidemiological studies are equivocal on a possible link between brain trauma and increased risk of malignant glioma formation. We present two case reports of patients with GBM arising at the site of prior brain injury. CONCLUSION The hypothesis that TBI may predispose to gliomagenesis is disputed by several large-scale epidemiological studies, but supported by some. Radiographic evidence from two cases presented here suggest that GBM formed at the site of brain injury. We propose a putative pathogenesis model that connects post-traumatic inflammation, stem and progenitor cell transformation, and gliomagenesis.