Overall survival and progression-free survival after 5 and 10 years of 31 patients with
malignant glioma treated by a combination of surgery, postoperative
radiotherapy, and
chemotherapy with a
PCV regimen (
procarbazine,
CCNU [
lomustine] and
vincristine) is described. Parameters were evaluated by age at diagnosis, gender, ethnic origin, pre- and postsurgery Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, limit and amount of surgical resection, histopathologic type, number of
chemotherapy courses, time between surgery and
radiotherapy, response to combined
therapy, and dosage and type of
radiotherapy. Progression-free survival was 29% at 24 months and 22% at 60 and 120 months. Overall survival was 47%, 36%, and 36% after 24, 60, and 120 months, respectively. Favorable prognostic factors for survival in univariate analysis were pre- and postoperative KPS (> or =70; p = 0.015; p = 0.0025, respectively), age of patients (<40; p = 0.01), number of
chemotherapy cycles (> or =6; p = 0.02), and radiation dose (> or =60 Gy; p = 0.0015). The only significant prognostic factors for overall survival in a stepwise multivariate analysis were irradiation dose (p = 0.0001), number of
chemotherapy cycles (p = 0.001), and preoperative KPS (p = 0.05); for progression-free survival it was number of
chemotherapy cycles (p = 0.004). Survival was not affected by excision size, radiation method, histopathologic type of
tumor, gender, ethnic origin, or time lapsed between surgery and irradiation.