Radiotherapy of Grade III Gliomas: Identification of Clinical Prognostic Factors for Local Tumor Control and Survival.

Abstract

The prognoses of patients with grade III gliomas require improvement, which may be achieved with personalized care. We aimed to identify prognostic factors to facilitate the process of treatment personalization. Eight factors were analyzed for local tumor control and survival in 44 patients irradiated for grade III glioma. These factors included location and size of glioma, number of glioma sites, performance status, gender, age, neurosurgical intervention and chemotherapy. In the Cox regression analyses, frontal location (risk ratio=4.41, p=0.048) and unifocal glioma (risk ratio=4.65, p=0.034) were associated with improved local control, and unifocal glioma with improved survival (risk ratio=6.12, p=0.033). In addition, trends for better survival were observed for frontal location (p=0.093), age ≤49 years (p=0.070), upfront resection (p=0.099) and chemotherapy (p=0.066) on univariate analyses. Independent predictors of local tumor control and survival were identified that can be helpful for personalizing treatment and designing clinical trials.