Metastases are the most frequent intracranial malignant tumors in adults. While Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) are known to have significant impact on overall ...survival (OS), temporal muscle thickness (TMT) has been postulated to be a promising new parameter to estimate prognosis. Patients who received a resection of one to three brain metastases in our institution were included. Temporal muscle thickness was measured in preoperative MRI scans according to a standardized protocol. In 199 patients, the mean TMT was 7.5 mm (95CI 7.3-7.7) and the mean OS during follow-up was 31.3 months (95CI 24.2-38.3). There was no significant correlation of TMT and preoperative or follow-up CFS and KPS. While CFS and KPS did significantly correlate with OS (
< 0.001 for each), no correlation was demonstrated for TMT. CFS showed a superior prognostic value compared to KPS. TMT failed to show a significant impact on OS or patient performance, whereas the clinical scales (KPS and CFS) demonstrate a good correlation with OS. Due to its superiority over KPS, we strongly recommend the use of CFS to estimate OS in patients with brain metastases.
Radiation necrosis represents a potentially devastating complication after radiation therapy in brain tumors. The establishment of the diagnosis and especially the differentiation from progression ...and pseudoprogression with its therapeutic implications requires interdisciplinary consent and monitoring. Herein, we want to provide an overview of the diagnostic modalities, therapeutic possibilities and an outlook on future developments to tackle this challenging topic. The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the current morphological, functional, metabolic and evolving imaging tools described in the literature in order to (I) identify the best criteria to distinguish radionecrosis from tumor recurrence after the radio-oncological treatment of malignant gliomas and cerebral metastases, (II) analyze the therapeutic possibilities and (III) give an outlook on future developments to tackle this challenging topic. Additionally, we provide the experience of a tertiary tumor center with this important issue in neuro-oncology and provide an institutional pathway dealing with this problem.
Biological but not chronological age plus performance have more impact on decision making in glioblastoma patients. We investigated how progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in ...older patients with IDH wild-type glioblastoma were influenced by concomitant radio-chemotherapy and MGMT promotor methylation status in real-life settings. In total, 142 out of 273 (52%) evaluated patients were older than 65 years, and 77 (55%) of them received concomitant radio-chemotherapy. In senior patients, the initiation of concomitant radio-chemotherapy was associated with significantly better PFS: 15.3 months (CI95: 11.7−18.9) vs. 7.0 months (CI95: 4.3−9.6; p = 0.002). The favorable influence on PFS was not related to MGMT promotor methylation status as it was in the younger cohort. In seniors, concomitant radio-chemotherapy was related to significantly better OS: 20.0 months (CI95: 14.3−26.7) vs. 4.9 months (CI95: 3.5−6.2), p < 0.001. MGMT promotor methylation was related to a more favorable OS only, if concomitant radio-chemotherapy was initiated. In conclusion, more than half of the glioblastoma cohort was older than 65 years of age. Even if PFS and OS were shorter than in the younger cohort, concomitant radio-chemotherapy provided a survival advantage. In real life, MGMT promotor methylation had a positive impact on OS only if the adjuvant therapy was applied.
Background
GBM research is constantly assessing potential valuable prognostic biomarkers to better understand the disease and prognosticate future outcomes. Measuring temporal muscle thickness (TMT) ...has appeared to be a promising new surrogate marker for skeletal muscle mass and sarcopenia, which further indicates frailty and predicts overall survival (OS). The aim of this study was to determine its usefulness as a prognostic marker in patients with high-grade glioma compared to functional status scales.
Methods
TMT was measured in preoperative axial T1-weighted contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance images in 277 patients who received surgical treatment of newly diagnosed WHO III and IV gliomas in our institution between 2015 and 2020. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) were assessed preoperatively and during a follow-up visit.
Results
Female gender has shown significant correlation with TMT, while TMT did not correlate with preoperative and follow-up functional scores, age, WHO classification, IDH mutation, MGMT promoter methylation, EGFR and ATRX expression, or 1p/19q co-deletion. No significant prognostic value of TMT could be shown in 6, 12, and 24 months OS, while changes in CFS and KPS proved to have a significant impact.
Conclusion
Only female gender, but no other clinical, histological, or molecular marker showed any interrelation with TMT. Functional scores outclass measuring TMT as a reliable prognostic factor for predicting OS in patients with high-grade glioma.
Introduction:
Tumor-treating fields (TTFs) are a specific local oncological treatment modality in glioblastoma multiforme WHO° IV (GBM). Their mechanism of action is based on the effect of electrical ...fields interfering with the mitotic activity of malignant cells. Prospective studies have demonstrated efficacy, but TTF benefits are still controversially discussed. This treatment was implemented in our center as the standard of care in January 2016. We thus discuss the current state of the art and our long-term experience in the routine application of TTF.
Methods
The data of 48 patients suffering from GBM and treated with TTF were assessed and compared with previously published studies. Up-to-date information from open sources was evaluated.
Results
A total of 31 males and 17 females harboring a GBM were treated with TTF, between January 2016 and August 2021, in our center. In 98% of cases, TTFs were started within 6 weeks after concomitant radiochemotherapy (Stupp protocol). Mean overall survival was 22.6 months (95% CI: 17.3–27.9). Current indications, benefits, and restrictions were evaluated. Future TTF opportunities and ongoing studies were reviewed.
Conclusion
TTFs are a feasible and routinely applicable specific oncological treatment option for glioblastoma multiforme WHO° IV. Further research is ongoing to extend the indications and the efficacy of TTF.
H3 K27M-mutated gliomas were first described as a new grade 4 entity in the 2016 WHO classification. Current studies have focused on its typical appearance in children and young adults, increasing ...the need to better understand the prognostic factors and impact of surgery on adults. Here, we report a multicentric study of this entity in adults.
We included molecularly confirmed H3 K27M-mutated glioma cases in patients >18 years diagnosed between 2016 and 2022. Clinical, radiological, and surgical features were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors.
Among 70 patients with a mean age of 36.1 years, the median overall survival (OS) was 13.6 + 14 months. Gross-total resection was achieved in 14.3% of patients, whereas 30% had a subtotal resection and 54.3% a biopsy.Tumors located in telencephalon/diencephalon/myelencephalon were associated with a poorer OS, while a location in the mesencephalon/metencephalon showed a significantly longer OS (8.7 vs. 25.0 months, p=0.007). Preoperative Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS) < 80 showed a reduced OS (4.2 vs. 18 months, p=0.02). Furthermore, ATRX loss, found in 25.7%, was independently associated with an increased OS (31 vs. 8.3 months, p=0.0029). Notably, patients undergoing resection showed no survival benefit over biopsy (12 vs. 11 months, p=0.4006).
The present study describes surgical features of H3 K27M-mutated glioma in adulthood in a large multicentric study. Our data reveal that ATRX status, location and KPS significantly impact OS in H3 K27M-mutated glioma. Importantly, our dataset indicates that resection does not offer a survival advantage over biopsy.
The severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) crisis led to many restrictions in daily life and protective health care actions in all hospitals to ensure basic medical supply. This ...questionnaire-based study among spinal surgeons in central Europe was generated to investigate the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and consecutively the differences in restrictions in spinal surgery units.
An online survey consisting of 32 questions on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions on spinal surgery units was created. Surgical fellows and consultants from neurosurgical, orthopedic, and trauma departments were included in our questionnaire-based study with the help of Austrian, German, and Swiss scientific societies.
In a total of 406 completed questionnaires, most participants reported increased preventive measurements at daily clinical work (split-team work schedule 44%, cancellation of elective and/or semielective surgeries 91%), reduced occurrence of emergencies (91%), decreased outpatient work (45%) with increased telemedical care (73%) and a reduced availability of medical equipment (75%) as well as medical staff (30%). Although most physicians considered the political restrictive decisions to be not suitable, most considered the medical measures to be appropriate.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in comparable restrictive measures for spinal surgical departments in central Europe. Elective surgical interventions were reduced, providing additional resources reserved for severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2–positive patients. Although similar restrictions were introduced in most participants' departments, the supply of personal protective equipment and the outpatient care remained insufficient and should be re-evaluated intensively for future global health care crises.
Next-day postoperative computed tomography (CT) has been routinely used to obtain radiographic “clearance” for transferring patients after elective craniotomy out of the intensive care unit. The ...value of this traditional policy, however, has repeatedly been questioned. However, the limited patient numbers might have underestimated the very rare, but catastrophic, events. Therefore, we analyzed the value of routine postoperative CT in a larger cohort of elective tumor, epilepsy, and vascular cases.
All the patients who had undergone elective craniotomy were included in our study. The routine postoperative CT scans were analyzed by a neuroradiologist who was unaware of the clinical data. The medical records were retrospectively reviewed for events of arterial hypertension and clinical deterioration.
The data from 660 patients with tumors (n = 393; 59.5%), aneurysms (n = 107; 16.2%), and skull base lesions were evaluated. In nearly one half of the patients (n = 264; 45.8%), CT depicted the presence of blood that was not associated with symptoms. Of the 660 patients, 21 (3.6%) showed a mass effect radiographically, 11 of whom underwent revision surgery. Arterial hypertension was documented in only 8 patients (1.3%) and was related to the revision surgery (P = 0.018). The overall revision rate was 2.7% (n = 18). All patients who had undergone revision for postoperative hematoma had presented with a new neurological deficit immediately before CT.
Routine postoperative CT did not reveal 1 patient with a serious hematoma that would not have been identified by clinical examination. Patients could be transferred safely from the intensive care unit, if the weaning process and clinical observation findings were uneventful, without deterioration of neurological symptoms or consciousness.
Acute occlusion of the internal carotid artery is the underlying etiology in 4 to 15% of all ischemic strokes. The clinical presentation varies considerably ranging from asymptomatic occlusion to ...severe ischemic strokes. Substantial differences in the acute management of acute symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusions (ICAO) exists between centers. Thusly, we comprised a narrative review of the natural course of acute ICAO and of available treatment options i.v. thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy and stenting, bypass between the superficial temporal and the middle cerebral arteries (MCA) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA). We found that very few randomized treatment trials have been performed in patients acute symptomatic ICAO. Most evidence stems from case series and observational studies. Especially in older studies the intracranial vessel status has rarely been considered. After revision of these studies we concluded that the mainstay of the acute management of acute symptomatic ICAO is i.v. thrombolysis when applied within the label and in combination with mechanical thrombectomy in case of intracranial large vessel occlusion. In cases without intracranial large vessel occlusion mechanical thrombectomy of acute ICAO is associated with a risk of distal embolization. More research on prognostic parameters is needed to better characterize the risk of decompensation of collateral flow and to better define the time-window of intervention. When mechanical thrombectomy fails or is not available, surgical approaches are an alternative in selected patients.
Background
Isocitrate dehydrogenase
(
IDH)1/2 wildtype (wt) astrocytomas formerly classified as WHO grade II or III have significantly shorter PFS and OS than IDH mutated WHO grade 2 and 3 gliomas ...leading to a classification as CNS WHO grade 4. It is the aim of this study to evaluate differences in the treatment-related clinical course of these tumors as they are largely unknown.
Methods
Patients undergoing surgery (between 2016–2019 in six neurosurgical departments) for a histologically diagnosed WHO grade 2–3 IDH1/2-wt astrocytoma were retrospectively reviewed to assess progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and prognostic factors.
Results
This multi-center study included 157 patients (mean age 58 years (20–87 years); with 36.9% females). The predominant histology was anaplastic astrocytoma WHO grade 3 (78.3%), followed by diffuse astrocytoma WHO grade 2 (21.7%). Gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in 37.6%, subtotal resection (STR) in 28.7%, and biopsy was performed in 33.8%. The median PFS (12.5 months) and OS (27.0 months) did not differ between WHO grades. Both, GTR and STR significantly increased PFS (P < 0.01) and OS (P < 0.001) compared to biopsy. Treatment according to Stupp protocol was not associated with longer OS or PFS compared to chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone. EGFR amplification (P = 0.014) and TERT-promotor mutation (P = 0.042) were associated with shortened OS. MGMT-promoter methylation had no influence on treatment response.
Conclusions
WHO grade 2 and 3 IDH1/2 wt astrocytomas, treated according to the same treatment protocols, have a similar OS. Age, extent of resection, and strong EGFR expression were the most important treatment related prognostic factors.
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