Abstract:
Objective: To investigate the efficacy of hypofractionated conformal radiotherapy boost after post-operative conventional radiotherapy for supratentorial glioblastoma and to evaluate correlated factors for prognosis. Methods:A total of43patients with glioblastoma treated between December2001 and December 2005 were retrospectively reviewed. These patients had been recently diagnosed with a unifocal lesion of su-pratentorial glioblastoma and were treated with a hypofractionated conformal radiotherapy boost after conven-tional radiotherapy. The target area covered the residual tumor lesion, surgical cavity and surrounding edema. The fraction dose and total dose were tailored to the target volume with a three-step cone-down technique ac-cording to the dose profile of the treatment plan and dose limit of the adjacent tissues. The prescription dose to the edema of the surrounding tissues and residual tumor lesion exceeded 54Gy and70Gy, respectively. Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze survival and progression-free survival. Acute and late neurological toxicities were graded according to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group neurotoxicity scores. Multivariate anal -yses were performed to determine significant prognostic factors. Results: The median overall survival was 14 months. The overall 1- and 2-year survival rates were 61% and 25% , respectively. The median time to dis-ease progression was 11months. The 1- and 2-year progression-free survival rates were 35% and 11%, re-spectively. Seven patients experienced grade 1 acute neurotoxicity and 3 patients suffered from headache due to grade 2 late neurotoxicity. Nine patients developed brain necrosis in the irradiation area, of which 5 were confirmed by surgical reexcision. Multivariate analyses showed that Karnofsky Performance Scale score (P=0.002 ), extent of resection (P=0.025 ) and age (P=0.030 ) were independent factors correlated to progno -sis. Conclusion:Hypofractionated conformal radiotherapy boost after post-operative conventional radiotherapy is safe and effective for treatment of supratentorial glioblastoma.