Removing 'non-contrast enhancing tumor' may boost survival of glioblastoma patients

biotech healthcare

Flickering light triggers the brain to release signaling chemicals that may help fight Alzheimer's Some 22,850 Americans are diagnosed each year with glioblastoma – one of the most relentless adult cancers and one that may be best known for claiming the lives of senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, and the son of Vice President Joe Biden. The average survival for the 91 percent of glioblastoma patients whose tumor is characterized by IDH-wild-type mutations is 1.2 years, according to a 2019 study. However, the remaining 9 percent have a type of glioblastoma classified as IDH mutant, with average survival of 3.6 years. In their study, which publishes in JAMA Oncology on Feb. 6, 2020, the researchers tracked the outcomes of 761 newly diagnosed patients at UCSF who had been treated from 1997 through 2017. The patients, whose average age was 60, were divided into four groups with varying risk based on age, treatment protocols, and extent of resections of both contrast-enhancing and non-contrast-enhancing tumor. Source: UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Journal reference: Molinaro, A.M., et al. (2020) Association of Maximal Extent of Resection of Contrast-Enhanced and Non–Contrast-Enhanced Tumor With Survival Within Molecular Subgroups of Patients With Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma. JAMA Oncology . doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.6143 .