Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico
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The assessment of response to therapy in glioblastoma remains a challenge, because the surrogate measures of survival are subject to radiographic misinterpretation. A solid and reliable definition of progression is needed for both clinical decision-making and for evaluating response within the clinical trials. Historically, assessment criteria have used radiologic and clinical features aimed to correctly classify patients into progressive or non-progressive disease. ⋯ However, assessment criteria have certain limitations that emerging image techniques have tried to overcome. Differentiating true progression from treatment-related changes (like pseudoprogression or pseudoresponse) is crucial in order not to prematurely discontinue adjuvant chemotherapy or redirect the patient to second-line options. This fact underscores the need for advanced radiologic techniques, like specific diffusion and perfusion MRI sequences, MR spectroscopy and PET, which seem to play a role in distinguishing these phenomena.