Localized treatment of glioblastoma: a review of clinical strategies and advances in drug delivery systems

The prognosis for glioblastoma patients remains poor despite recent advances in neurosurgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. One promising treatment strategy lies in the localized delivery of therapeutics through drug delivery systems designed to enhance existing clinical treatments by directly targeting the tumor site or surrounding area. This review explores the latest advancements in localized therapies for glioblastoma, highlighting recent preclinical and clinical studies and examining how we can integrate these approaches – including stereotactic techniques such as convection-enhanced delivery and therapies targeting the post-surgical resection cavity – with drug delivery systems. We describe the features that the drug delivery system should possess for the efficient transport of drugs for both inoperable and resectable glioblastoma local treatment. Finally, this review discusses future directions that may facilitate the clinical translation of localized treatment strategies for glioblastoma.