Glioblastoma multiforme of spinal cord – case series in a tertiary cancer centre

Abstract

Primary spinal cord glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a rare clinical condition and is often associated with a dismal prognosis. The standard treatment is maximal safe surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Despite such aggressive treatments, the median survival is estimated to be around 15 months in several studies. We report three patients with primary spinal GBM who received treatment in our institute from 2012 to 2019. Among the three, one patient is on long-term follow-up with no evidence of disease, another patient succumbed to the illness and the third patient is having stable disease. Although primary spinal GBM is usually associated with a dismal prognosis, our case series shows a subset of patients will have a favorable outcome with the protocol treatment.