BACKGROUND: Tissue diagnosis is essential in the usual management of high-grade glioma. In rare circumstances, due to patient preference, performance status, comorbidities, or tumor location, biopsy is not feasible. Sometimes a biopsy is nondiagnostic. Many neuro-oncology clinics have patients like this, but these patients' outcomes and responses to treatment are not known. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed records from adult patients diagnosed with presumed high-grade glioma of the brain without definitive pathology, diagnosed between 2004 and 2016. We recorded several clinical variables including date of first diagnostic imaging and date of death. RESULTS: We identified 61 patients and subclassified them to brainstem glioma (n = 32), supratentorial presumed glioblastoma (n = 24), presumed thalamic diffuse midline glioma (n = 2), gliomatosis cerebri (n = 2), and cerebellar glioma (n = 1). Most brainstem glioma patients had no biopsy because of tumor location. Supratentorial presumed glioblastoma patients had no biopsy predominantly because of comorbidities. Median survival, from first diagnostic imaging, was 3.2 months (95% CI: 2.9 to 6.3 months) in the supratentorial glioblastoma group and 18.5 months (95% CI: 13.0 to 44.1 months) in the brainstem group. Treatment with radiation or chemotherapy did not alter the median survival of the supratentorial glioblastoma group (hazard ratio 1.41, uncorrected P = .5). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with imaging diagnoses of high-grade glioma have similar, if not worse, survival than those with pathological confirmation. Based on these uncontrolled data, it is unclear how effective radiation or chemotherapy is in this population.
BACKGROUND: Tissue diagnosis is essential in the usual management of high-grade glioma. In rare circumstances, due to patient preference, performance status, comorbidities, or tumor location, biopsy is not feasible. Sometimes a biopsy is nondiagnostic. Many neuro-oncology clinics have patients like this, but these patients' outcomes and responses to treatment are not known. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed records from adult patients diagnosed with presumed high-grade glioma of the brain without definitive pathology, diagnosed between 2004 and 2016. We recorded several clinical variables including date of first diagnostic imaging and date of death. RESULTS: We identified 61 patients and subclassified them to brainstem glioma (n = 32), supratentorial presumed glioblastoma (n = 24), presumed thalamic diffuse midline glioma (n = 2), gliomatosis cerebri (n = 2), and cerebellar glioma (n = 1). Most brainstem glioma patients had no biopsy because of tumor location. Supratentorial presumed glioblastoma patients had no biopsy predominantly because of comorbidities. Median survival, from first diagnostic imaging, was 3.2 months (95% CI: 2.9 to 6.3 months) in the supratentorial glioblastoma group and 18.5 months (95% CI: 13.0 to 44.1 months) in the brainstem group. Treatment with radiation or chemotherapy did not alter the median survival of the supratentorial glioblastoma group (hazard ratio 1.41, uncorrected P = .5). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with imaging diagnoses of high-grade glioma have similar, if not worse, survival than those with pathological confirmation. Based on these uncontrolled data, it is unclear how effective radiation or chemotherapy is in this population.
Authors: J S Guillamo; A Monjour; L Taillandier; B Devaux; P Varlet; C Haie-Meder; G L Defer; P Maison; J J Mazeron; P Cornu; J Y Delattre Journal: Brain Date: 2001-12 Impact factor: 13.501
Authors: Roger Stupp; Warren P Mason; Martin J van den Bent; Michael Weller; Barbara Fisher; Martin J B Taphoorn; Karl Belanger; Alba A Brandes; Christine Marosi; Ulrich Bogdahn; Jürgen Curschmann; Robert C Janzer; Samuel K Ludwin; Thierry Gorlia; Anouk Allgeier; Denis Lacombe; J Gregory Cairncross; Elizabeth Eisenhauer; René O Mirimanoff Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2005-03-10 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Santosh Kesari; Ryung S Kim; Vassilios Markos; Jan Drappatz; Patrick Y Wen; Amy A Pruitt Journal: J Neurooncol Date: 2008-06 Impact factor: 4.130
Authors: Erlend Skaga; Marthe Andrea Skretteberg; Tom Børge Johannesen; Petter Brandal; Einar O Vik-Mo; Eirik Helseth; Iver A Langmoen Journal: Neurooncol Adv Date: 2021-02-26