Long-term survival after the diagnosis of malignant glioma: a series of 22 patients surviving more than 4 years after diagnosis.

Long-term survival after the diagnosis of malignant glioma is uncommon but not rare. To define better the population of patients who have extended survival with this disease, we reviewed the records of 22 of our patients who survived more than 4 years after the biopsy-proven diagnosis of anaplastic astrocytoma, malignant mixed glioma, or glioblastoma multiforme. Surprisingly, 21 of the 22 patients are still alive and being actively followed by the authors. The long-term survivors were typically young and with minimal or no functional impairment at the time of diagnosis. Survivals ranged from 4.2 to 15.8 years. The quality of survival was generally good, with the surviving patients having a mean Karnofsky Performance Score of 76. Three-quarters of the patients had no enhancement or mass effect on their most recent computed tomography scans. A review of the available literature, together with our own series, suggests that death from recurrent disease is unusual in glioma patients who survive more than 4 or 5 years.