title: An unusually long survival of a patient with glioblastoma of spinal cord: a case report.
abstract: Primary glioblastoma of spinal cord are rare and are associated with poor survival especially in adults. We report a case of glioblastoma of thoracic spinal cord (D3 to D6) in an adult treated with partial resection surgery and radiation therapy with a survival of six years with good quality of life. The patient had paraplegia at presentation but improved after surgery and radiation therapy to grade 4 in both lower limbs. After 5 years, he developed new lesion in a different location of the spine (L1, L2 & L5) along with multiple lesions over entire spine and was treated with radiation therapy and a year later developed a new lesion intracranially in the posterior fossa involving cerebellopontine angle region infiltrating brainstem. He was treated with palliative radiotherapy and is on chemotherapy with Temozolomide and is still alive with ability to do activities of daily living at the time of this report. Radiation therapy provided prolonged local control with effective palliation of symptoms and good quality of life in this patient enabling to do activities of daily living.
authors: Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Christian Medical College , Vellore, India .
authors: Sunitha Susan
authors: SS
authors: Varghese
authors: Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Christian Medical College , Vellore, India .
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Sebastian
authors: Professor, Neurosurgery, Department of Neurological Sciences, Christian Medical College , Vellore, India .
authors: Vivek
authors: V
authors: Joseph
authors: Professor, Neuropathology, Departments of Pathology and Neurological Sciences, Christian Medical College , Vellore, India .
authors: Geeta
authors: G
authors: Chacko
authors: Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Christian Medical College , Vellore, India .
authors: Selvamani
authors: S
authors: Backianathan
keywords: Glioblastoma; Spinal cord; Survival