Al's Comment:
This article talks about the outcomes for GBM patients treated with the standard treatments in Iran. Average progression free survival was 6 months and average survival was 11 months. Only 7% of patients had a complete resection.
Here in the USA, a much higher % of patients get complete resections, and the average survival with standard treatments is over 18 months. There are some small trials that reported overall survivals of 38 months.
This points out the need not only for us to find the best treatments but to make sure they get out to the rest of the world. WIth the latest treatments being so expensive, that might not happen for a long time or ever. Something has to be done about that. I have no idea how to approach it. Any ideas?
Posted on: 03/24/2013
J Egypt Natl Canc Inst. 2013 Mar;25(1):21-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jnci.2012.11.001. Epub 2012 Dec 21.
Treatment outcome and prognostic factors of adult glioblastoma multiforme.
Ahmadloo N, Kani AA, Mohammadianpanah M, Nasrolahi H, Omidvari S, Mosalaei A, Ansari M.
Namazi Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
This study aimed to report the characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcome of 223 patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
SUBJECTS AND METHOD:
This retrospective study was carried out by reviewing the medical records of 223 adult patients diagnosed at a tertiary academic hospital between 1990 and 2008. Patients' follow up ranged from 1 to 69months (median 11months). Surgery was attempted in all patients in whom complete resection in 15 patients (7%), subtotal resection in 77 patients (34%), partial resection in 73 patients (33%) and biopsy alone in 58 patients (26%) were done. In addition, we performed a literature review of PubMed to find out and analyze major related series. In all, we collected and analyzed the data of 33 major series including more than 11,000 patients with GBM.
RESULTS:
There were 141 men and 82 women. The median progression free- and overall survival were 6 (95% CI=5.711-8.289) and 11 (95% CI=9.304-12.696) months respectively. In univariate analysis for overall survival, age (P=0.003), tumor size (P<0.013), performance status (P<0.001), the extent of surgical resection (P=0.009), dose of radiation (P<0.001), and adjuvant chemotherapy (P<0.001) were prognostic factors. However, in multivariate analysis, only radiation dose, extent of surgical resection, and adjuvant chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors for overall survival.
CONCLUSION:
The prognosis of adult patients with GBM remains poor; however, complete surgical resection and adjuvant treatments improve progression-free and overall survival.
Copyright © 2012. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
PMID: 23499203 [PubMed - in process]
Click HERE to return to brain tumor news headlines.
