Clinical Study Temozolomide and Radiotherapy versus Radiotherapy Alone in High Grade Gliomas: A Very Long Term Comparative Study and Literature Review

Copyright © 2015 Salvatore Parisi et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Temozolomide (TMZ) is the first line drug in the care of high grade gliomas.The combined treatment of TMZ plus radiotherapy is more effective in the care of brain gliomas then radiotherapy alone. Aim of this report is a survival comparison, on a long time (>10 years) span, of glioma patients treated with radiotherapy alone and with radiotherapy + TMZ.Materials andMethods. In this report we retrospectively reviewed the outcomeof 128 consecutive ptswith diagnosis of high grade gliomas referred to our institutions from April 1994 to November 2001.The first 64 pts were treated with RT alone and the other 64 with a combination of RT and adjuvant or concomitant TMZ. Results. Grade 3 (G3) haematological toxicity was recorded in 6 (9%) of 64 pts treated with RT and TMZ. NoG4 haematological toxicity was observed. Age, histology, and administration of TMZ were statistically significant prognostic factors associated with 2 years overall survival (OS). PFS was for GBM 9months, for AA 11. Conclusions. The combination of RT and TMZ improves long term survival in glioma patients. Our results confirm the superiority of the combination on a long time basis. 1