title: Prognostic factors for survival in adult patients with cerebral low-grade glioma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify prognostic factors for survival in adult patients with cerebral low-grade glioma (LGG), to derive a prognostic scoring system, and to validate results using an independent data set.
  
  
  METHODS
  European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) trial 22844 and EORTC trial 22845 are the largest phase III trials ever carried out in adult patients with LGG. The trials were designed to investigate the dosage and timing of postoperative radiotherapy in LGG. Cox analysis was performed on 322 patients from EORTC trial 22844 (construction set), and the results were validated on 288 patients from trial 22845 (validation set). Patients with pilocytic astrocytomas were excluded from this prognostic factor analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate analysis on the construction set showed that age > or = 40 years, astrocytoma histology subtype, largest diameter of the tumor > or = 6 cm, tumor crossing the midline, and presence of neurologic deficit before surgery were unfavorable prognostic factors for survival. The total number of unfavorable factors present can be used to determine the prognostic score. Presence of up to two of these factors identifies the low-risk group, whereas a higher score identifies high-risk patients. The validity of the multivariate model and of the scoring system was confirmed in the validation set.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In adult patients with LGG, older age, astrocytoma histology, presence of neurologic deficits before surgery, largest tumor diameter, and tumor crossing the midline were important prognostic factors for survival. These factors can be used to identify low-risk and high-risk patients.
authors.affiliation: European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Data Center, Brussels, Belgium. francesco.pignatti@emea.eu.int
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pignatti
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van den Bent
authors.forename: Desmond
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: Channa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Debruyne
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sylvester
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Therasse
authors.forename: Denes
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Afra
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cornu
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bolla
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vecht
authors.forename: Abul B M F
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Karim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis