Thirty-seven pediatric patients with the diagnosis of glioblastoma not of the brainstem, who were treated in our institution from 1982-2011, were identified and studied retrospectively.
All patients underwent surgical intervention. Seventeen patients (45.9 % ) had gross total resection (GTR). Thirteen patients (35.1 % ) had subtotal resection and seven (18.9 % ) had biopsy. After surgery, 35 patients received radiation therapy (94.6 % ) and 34 patients (91.9 % ) received chemotherapy (various agents depending on the institutional protocols established at the time of treatment and family choice). Median follow-up time was 17.5 months, ranging from 0.5-186 months. The median overall survival is 18.7 months (95 % confidence interval 15.7-21.8 months). The survival rate at 1, 2, and 5 years is 63.9 % , 44.5 % , and 17.6 % , respectively. The median overall survival for patients with GTR is 45.1 months (95 % confidence interval 27.5-62.8 months), 8.7 or 11.5 months for patients with subtotal resection or biopsy, respectively. GTR was accomplished only in patients with superficially located tumors.
GTR significantly associates with long-term survival in our population of pediatric patients with glioblastoma not of the brainstem.