Prognostic factors for patients with brain tumors

Patient characteristics of 225 patients entered into a clinical trial conducted by the Brain Tumor Study Group (69-01) were examined for their relationship to survival time. In the clinical study, all patients received surgery and were randomized to control treatment (no further treatment), X-ray therapy (XRT), 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), or BCNU + XRT. When treatment was considered as a possible prognostic factor, the patient characteristics most related to survival were: XRT (receiving XRT favorable), age (young, favorable), symptoms of seizures and cranial nerves (both favorable), BCNU treatment (yes, favorable), encapsulated tumor (yes, favorable), and parietal tumor (no, favorable). When treatment was not considered a possible prognostic factor, the patient characteristics most related to survival were: age (young, favorable), biopsy (operation biopsy only, unfavorable), seizures (yes, favorable), cranial nerve symptoms (yes, favorable), and parietal location of tumor (yes, unfavorable). Knowledge of prognostic factors can be used for stratifying patients in clinical studies, for testing the comparability of groups of patients, and in the analysis of the results of clinical studies.