Analysis of some factors effecting survival in malignant gliomas

Many factors, including the histological aspect, are known to effect the survival of patients with malignant gliomas. The relation between survival and diagnoses such as primary and secondary glioblastoma, anaplastic astrocytoma, etc., is not definitely clear. In 324 malignant gliomas the relationship between survival and age, sex, tumor pathology, occurrence of lymphoplasmacytic infiltrations, and size of the examined specimen was studied. Preoperative intervals of primary and secondary glioblastomas do not differ; anaplastic astrocytomas show definitely longer preoperative intervals and slightly but not significantly longer postoperative patient survival. The correlations are discussed, focusing on importance of knowing the survival times of untreated cases in order to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs in malignant gliomas.