The clinical progression of patients with glioblastoma

Abstract

Background: Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and common primary brain tumor. Patients usually present with a short clinical history that often includes focal neurological deficits. Historically 1- and 5-year survival of patients with this disease has been low. There are now increasing reports of patients living longer, making it important to understand the clinical progression of the disease to predict patient needs. Methods: Patients ≥ 18 years who were enrolled in the central nervous system (CNS) tumor registry at HonorHealth in Scottsdale, Arizona between April 7, 2017 and February 5, 2020 were included. Demographic data and data on adverse events were collected from the CNS tumor registry. The data was analyzed and reported as means and standard deviations. Results: 12 male and 7 female patients were included in the study. The average time to follow-up was 15.12 months and patients experienced the onset of psychiatric/neurological adverse events an average of 3.29 months after surgery, cardiovascular/respiratory adverse events 3.42 months after surgery, and general adverse events 3.71 months after surgery. Additionally, 63.2% of patients experienced a seizure with an average time to onset of 6.75 months after surgery. Conclusions: Patients with glioblastoma experience psychiatric/neurological adverse events first, followed by cardiovascular/respiratory adverse events, and finally followed by general adverse events. Most patients will experience at least one seizure.

Keywords

• Adverse events
• Brain tumor
• Clinical progression
• Glioblastoma
• Survival