Abstract
The importance of maximal resection in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) has been reported in many studies, but maximal resection of thalamic GBM is rarely attempted due to high rate of morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of surgical resection in adult thalamic glioblastoma (GBM) treatment and to identify the surgical technique of maximal safety resection. In case of suspected thalamic GBM, surgical resection is the treatment of choice in our hospital. Biopsy was considered when there was ventricle wall enhancement or multiple enhancement lesion in a distant location. Navigation magnetic resonance imaging, diffuse tensor tractography imaging, tailed bullets, and intraoperative computed tomography and neurophysiologic monitoring (transcranial motor evoked potential and direct subcortical stimulation) were used in all surgical resection cases. The surgical approach was selected on the basis of the location of the tumor epicenter and the adjacent corticospinal tract. Among the 42 patients, 19 and 23 patients underwent surgical resection and biopsy, respectively, according to treatment strategy criteria. As a result, the surgical resection group exhibited a good response with overall survival (OS) (median: 676 days, p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (median: 328 days, p < 0.001) compared with each biopsy groups (doctor selecting biopsy group, median OS: 240 days and median PFS: 134 days; patient selecting biopsy group, median OS: 212 days and median PFS: 118 days). The surgical resection groups displayed a better prognosis compared to that of the biopsy groups for both the O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase unmethylated (log-rank p = 0.0035) or methylated groups (log-rank p = 0.021). Surgical resection was significantly associated with better prognosis (hazard ratio: 0.214, p = 0.006). In case of thalamic GBM without ventricle wall-enhancing lesion or multiple lesions, maximal surgical resection above 80% showed good clinical outcomes with prolonged the overall survival compared to biopsy. It is helpful to use adjuvant surgical techniques of checking intraoperative changes and select the appropriate surgical approach for reducing the surgical morbidity.
Highlights
The thalamus is located deep in the brain and adjacent to important neural structures
Because biopsy was selected in patients with ventricle wall enhancement or multiple lesions, the biopsy group included patients in a poorer health state than patients in the surgical resection group
The current study indicated that adjuvant surgical techniques, including the use of a tailed bullet and intraoperative computed tomography (CT), can help delineate the target lesion [13,14,15]
Summary
The thalamus is located deep in the brain and adjacent to important neural structures. The importance of maximal resection in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) has been reported in many studies [1,2,3]. The resection of the thalamic tumor is associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality [4,5,6], maximal resection of thalamic GBM is rarely attempted [7, 8], and the role of maximal surgical resection remains unclear. In the process of thalamic GBM treatment, biopsy is often performed to confirm the pathologic diagnosis and molecular characteristics, while surgical resection remains challenging [1, 8, 9]. Methods for effective surgical resection have been reported, with some reports including a description of the surgical approach [10, 11]
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