Temporal relationship of post-operative radiotherapy with temozolomide and oncologic outcome for glioblastoma

J Neurooncol. 2014 Jan;116(2):357-63. doi: 10.1007/s11060-013-1302-4. Epub 2013 Nov 5.

Abstract

To determine the impact of delay between surgery and radiotherapy on overall survival (OS) in temozolomide treatmented patients with the incorporation of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). From 2000 to 2012, 345 consecutive glioblastoma patients were treated with surgery, radiotherapy, and temozolomide at our institution. A Cox-regression model was constructed using significant univariate parameters, known prognostic factors including MGMT, and the interval from surgery to radiotherapy (≤ 2, 2-5, and ≥ 6 weeks). Survival rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier methods. Cox-regression was utilized to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HR). The median survival for the entire cohort was 12.2 months. The 1 year actuarial OS was 43.1 %, 53.3 %, and 64.3 % (p = 0.11), for intervals from surgery to radiotherapy of ≤ 2, 2-5, and ≥ 6 weeks, respectively. Patients radiated within 2 weeks post-surgery were more likely to have older age (p = 0.03), treated with 2D techniques (p < 0.001) and dose <36 Gy (p < 0.001), undergo a biopsy only (p < 0.001), KPS of <70 (p < 0.001), severe pre-radiotherapy neurologic symptoms (p = 0.04), and bilateral disease (p = 0.02). Multivariate analysis including MGMT status demonstrated a significant detriment in delaying radiotherapy (≤ 2 weeks as reference); 3-5 weeks (HR 2.80 [0.72-10.89], p = 0.14), and >6 weeks (HR 3.76 [1.01-14.57], p = 0.05). We report the first analysis on the survival impact of delaying post-operative radiotherapy for temozolomide treated glioblastoma patients with MGMT information. Our data does not support the OS benefit previously seen in delayed RT when correcting for important covariates. We demonstrate a survival detriment with delaying RT post-surgery greater than 6 weeks on multivariate analysis.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating / therapeutic use*
  • Brain Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Brain Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Dacarbazine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Dacarbazine / therapeutic use
  • Female
  • Glioblastoma / drug therapy*
  • Glioblastoma / mortality
  • Glioblastoma / surgery*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Radiosurgery / methods*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Statistics, Nonparametric
  • Temozolomide
  • Treatment Outcome*

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating
  • Dacarbazine
  • Temozolomide