Survival after radiation therapy for high-grade glioma.

Background: High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are a heterogeneous disease group, with variable prognosis, inevitably causing deterioration of the quality of life. The estimated 2-year overall survival is 20%, despite the best trimodality treatment consisting of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

Aim: To evaluate long-term survival outcomes and factors influencing the survival of patients with high-grade gliomas treated with radiotherapy.

Materials and methods: Data from 47 patients diagnosed with high-grade gliomas between 2009 and 2014 and treated with three-dimensional radiotherapy (3DRT) or intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: Median survival was 16.6 months; 29 patients (62%) died before the time of analysis. IMRT was employed in 68% of cases. The mean duration of radiotherapy was 56 days, and the mean delay to the start of radiotherapy was 61.7 days (range, 27-123 days). There were no statistically significant effects of duration of radiotherapy or delay to the start of radiotherapy on patient outcomes.

Conclusions: Age, total amount of gross resection, histological type, and use of adjuvant temozolomide influenced survival rate ( p  < 0.05). The estimated overall survival was 18 months (Kaplan-Meier estimator). Our results corroborated those reported in the literature.