title: Clinical prognostic factors in patients with malignant glioma treated with combined modality approach.
abstract: The impact of various clinical pretreatment prognostic factors in patients with malignant glioma treated with a combined modality approach was investigated in 229 patients treated on four consecutive prospective phase II studies. The median survival time for all 229 patients is 14 months, and 2- and 5-year survival rates are 34%, and 9%, respectively. The median time to tumor progression is 14 months, and 2- and 5-year progression-free survival rates are 32%, and 9%, respectively. Females did better than males, while patients 55 years or less did better than those more than 55 years. Patients with Karnofsky performance status (KPS) 80 to 100 did better than those with KPS 50 to 70 as well as did patients having preoperative tumor sizes 4 cm or less when compared to those with larger tumors. Frontal tumor location as well as more extensive surgery favorably influenced survival. Patients harboring anaplastic astrocytoma fared significantly better than those with glioblastoma multiforme. Both univariate and multivariate Cox analyses confirmed independent influence of these prognosticators. When progression-free survival was used as an endpoint, all seven variables remained independent prognosticators. This study showed that sex, age, KPS, tumor size, tumor location, histology, and extent of surgery are independent prognosticators in patients with malignant glioma treated with combined modality approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Kragujevac, Yugoslavia.
authors.forename: Branislav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jeremic
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milicic
authors.forename: Danica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grujicic
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dagovic
authors.forename: Jasna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aleksandrovic
authors.forename: Nebojsa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikolic
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis