International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics
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Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Dec 1989
Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialRadiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) survival data on anaplastic astrocytomas of the brain: does a more aggressive form of treatment adversely impact survival?
The RTOG has sponsored several studies for malignant gliomas of the brain that have included tumors classified as either glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or anaplastic-atypical astrocytoma (AAF) under the Nelson schema. Glioblastoma multiforme, the more aggressive histology, has done poorly under all forms of treatment having a typical median survival of 8-11 months. The less common and less aggressive anaplastic-atypical astrocytoma seems to show a survival that worsens with treatment more aggressive than standard radiotherapy. ⋯ Actuarial survival curves are presented for each subgroup of patients and then for the patient subgroups further broken down by major prognostic variables--age and Karnofsky performance status. In each "better prognostic category," the median survival decreased as the "aggressiveness" of the treatment increased. The implications of these findings for future clinical trials is discussed.