Symptoms of gliomas depend on which part of the central nervous system is affected.
*A brain glioma can cause headaches, nausea and vomiting, seizures, and cranial nerve disorders as a result of increased intracranial pressure.
*A glioma of the optic nerve can cause visual loss.
*Spinal cord gliomas can cause pain, weakness or numbness in the extremities.
Gliomas do not metastasize by the bloodstream, but they can spread via the cerebrospinal fluid and cause "drop metastases" to the spinal cord.

Standard treatments - including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy - may delay tumor growth, but patients usually survive for little more than a year.

There are currently no effective options for patients whose tumors recur, the vast majority of whom die within 6 months.