Association Of Clinical Phenotype And Treatment History With Survival In Adult Brainstem Glioblastoma.

e13539Background: Brainstem gliomas are rare, comprising 1-2% of malignant primary brain tumors. Brainstem glioblastoma (bGBM) often poses a therapeutic challenge due to scarcity of evidence guiding treatment, and the high rate of neurologic morbidity. We examined bGBM cases at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) to characterize the salient clinical features of bGBM, and the impact of therapy on patient survival. Methods: Adult patients with pathologically-confirmed bGBM (N = 34) treated at MDACC between June 2005 and June 2015 were identified from the neurosurgical database. Patients’ clinical, radiographic, and treatment data were extracted from the medical record. Descriptive statistics and Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed. Results: Mean age was 52.5 years (SD = 12.1) and median KPS was 80 (SD = 14.2) at time of diagnosis. Initial surgical intervention included biopsy (82.4%) and resection (17.6%). Most patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiation (N = 18, 52.9%) or sequential radiation follo...