A prospective study of short course radiotherapy in elderly patients with malignant glioma

Elderly patients with malignant glioma have a poor prognosis and the benefit of standard radical radiotherapy is equivocal. Twenty-two percent of the adult referral base with malignant glioma at our centre is of age 70 years or greater. A phase II study was undertaken to determine if a shorter course of therapy yields a comparable median survival to radical radiotherapy and thus constitutes an appropriate investigational palliative regimen. 25 patients were accrued between 1988-1995, all of whom had histologically proven malignant glioma, 23 glioblastoma multiforme and 2 anaplastic astrocytoma. The median age was 73 (range 70-78) and median Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) was 70.40% had a stereotactic biopsy only for diagnosis. Radiotherapy was delivered to limited fields to a dose of 37.5 Gy in 15 daily fractions over 3 weeks. An intention-to-treat analysis was undertaken with survival determined from date of initial consultation. The median survival of the whole group was 8.0 months (95% CI 4.8-9.6). Patients with good performance status (KPS > 70) had a median survival of 10.4 months (95% CI 9.6-14.7). 37.5 Gy in 15 daily fractions appears to yield comparable median survival to that of other series of radical radiotherapy. A phase III study of this regimen is recommended in investigating optimal palliation of elderly malignant glioma patients.