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.